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BIBLE PICTURES 



"BBLIGI0U8 8TMB0LI8M GIVES scope FOR ALL THAT 
18 Most PROFITABLE IX FANCY, SPECULATION OR THE 
GREAT DRAMATIC ELEMENT THAT is i\ EVERT .tf.l.V." — 
DsuSi 




BIBLE PICTURES; 



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GEORGE B. IDE, D.D., 

AUTHOR OF "BATTLK ECHOES," ETC., ETC. 



TTithout a parable spake he not unto them." — Hark iv. 34. 




BOSTON: 




G-OTTLiD .A. IN" D LI^TCOT^^, 

59 WASHINGTON STREET. 

SEW YORK: S HELD OX AND COMPANY. 

CINCINNATI: G. S. ELANCHAED & CO. 

186 7. 



23 






Kntered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 18f>7, by 

GOULD AND LINCOLN, 

in Che Chrk's Office of the District Court for the District of Massachusetts. 



$*tlti 



7*7 



STKllKOTlTtl) AND PltlNTKT) Br 

ROCKWELL Sl ROLLINS, 
122 Washington St., Boston. 



PREFACE 





D^C 



N studying the Discourses of the Great 
Teacher nothing more forcibly im- 
presses us than their illustrative char- 
acter. We seldom find in them didactic 
forms or abstract statements. Truth comes forth 
from His lips, not in her hard, naked lineaments, 
but draped in such pictorial garniture as may 
best commend her to human acceptance and sym- 
pathy. The parable, the allegory, the narrative, 
the incidents of common life, the scenes of Na- 
ture, the changing aspects of earth, and sea, and 
sky, furnish the attractive and ever varying dress 
in which He presents her. Thus, the analogies 
of the outer world become the robes of the inner 
and the spiritual. 

A belief in the effectiveness of this method of 
expressing Christian thought, and in its suitable- 
ness to all periods and circumstances, has led to 
the publication of the following pages. The de- 



VH 



VIU PREFACE. 

lineations which they contain were sketched at 
different times, and without any special regard to 
consecutiveness of subject, or logical order. And 
the same feature has been retained in their pres- 
ent arrangement. Each chapter is treated as 
complete in itself, and is intended to be a pic- 
turesque reproduction of the Scriptural scene or 
incident to which it relates. How far this de- 
sign has been accomplished the reader will be 
able to judge. 

The author has materials for other volumes, 
similar in execution, but with a stricter connec- 
tion of topics — "Bible Pictures, pr Scenes in 
the Life of Christ," and "Bible Pictures, or 
Scenes from the Acts of the Apostles." If this 
prove acceptable, those may follow. 

Should these efforts contribute, in a degree 
however humble, to impart a fresher interest to 
the study of the Inspired Word as a Book, not 
of the dead Past, but full of lessons for the liv- 
ing Present, the highest aim of the writer will 
be attained. 



CONTENTS 



Page. 

I. The House of the Soul 11 



II. The Shepherds and the Angels ... 33 

III. The Year-Sabbath 56 

IV. The Weak Hour of Elijah 81 

V. The Two Builders 100 

VI. Going Back to Bethel 122 

VII. The Thief on the Cross 140 

VIII. Jonas and the Greater than Jonas . .159 

IX. Heaven's Joy over the Saved . . . .184 

ix 



CONTENTS. 

Page. 

X. The Strong Spoiled by the Stronger . 205 



XI. Tears amid Triumph 227 

XII. The Stone upon the Grave .... 250 

XIII. Sinners Weighed 262 

XIV. Following Christ Afar Off .... 283 
XV. Christ's Love for His Own .... 306 

XVI. The Victorious Rider 330 

XVII. The Sermon at Night 356 

XVIII. Deep Fishing 370 

XIX. Vain Questions 393 

XX. Heaven Without Night 416 




BIBLE PICTURES. 

CHAPTER I. 

THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 
" Behold, I stand at the door and knock ; if any man hear 

MY VOICE AND OPEN THE DOOR, I WILL COME IN TO HIM, AND WILL 
SUP WITH HIM, AND HE WITH ME."— Rev. iii. 10. 

IASSING along a street the other clay, I saw 
a man ascend the steps of a house and ring 
at the door. No one came to admit him. 
He stood awhile with head bent down as if 
listening, and then rang again. Still the summons 
was unanswered. Again he waited and listened, 
until his patience was at length exhausted, and he 
went away, looking grieved and disappointed. The 
incident awakened in my mind a train of interesting 
reflections. Who can tell, I mentally said, how 
much that family may have lost By not admitting 
the visitor ? He may have been the bearer of good 
news, of kind counsel, of help greatly needed, or 

11 




12 BIBLE PICTUBES. 

of some message of remembrance and love from 
dear ones far away. And why did they not admit 
him? Perhaps they were careless or asleep, and 
did not hear him. Perhaps they were busy, and 
did not like to be interrupted. Perhaps some of 
them recognized, through the windows, the coun- 
tenance of an injured friend, and wished to avoid 
an interview. 

This occurrence, as I have described it, suggested 
the words of the text, and the spiritual history 
which they imply. So, methought, does a heedless 
and slumbering world treat the visits of its merciful 
Redeemer. He comes, with His hands filled with 
blessings, and knocks at the hearts of sinners — 
knocks often and loud — knocks by His Providence 
— knocks by His Word — knocks by His Spirit. 
Denied admittance, he does not go away. He 
stands and knocks. Oh, the depths of human in- 
gratitude ! Oh, the wonders of Divine condescen- 
sion, that He who sits on the throne of heaven, 
worshipped by all its shining hosts, should stand 
unregarded at the doors of men, and submit to see 
those doors remain bolted against him ! Alas ! we 
have all put upon Him this indignity. Even they 
by whom He has been welcomed long kept Him 
knocking and pleading without. And what multi- 
tudes are there who still refuse to listen to His voice, 
and whose bosoms are as adamant to His appeals ! 



THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 13 

In dwelling oh the words before us, I propose 
to describe the House of the Soul ; its original per- 
fection ; the sad change that has passed over it ; 
and the methods which its Maker and rightful 
Owner employs to regain it. 

The house of the soul is a double house, corre- 
sponding to the twofold nature of its occupant. Its 
Architect, infinite in wisdom and in skill, designed 
it with two fronts ; the one having a terrestrial 
view, the other looking away to the bright hills of 
Immortality ; thus answering to the temporal and 
to the eternal relations which man sustains. Both 
parts were arranged with equal care, and with equal 
adaptation to their purpose ; for the Builder intended 
both to be inhabited. 

In the earthward side He constructed five rooms, 
with five windows, one window to each room. 
These He designated the windows of the Five 
Senses, under the respective names of Sight, Hear- 
ing, Touch, Taste, and Smell. They were so con- 
trived as to give each its own impression of outward 
things, and each its separate enjoyment. And the 
external objects which they commanded were pre- 
cisely adjusted to their several uses. Ignorant or 
careless gardeners sometimes lay out grounds with- 
out any reference to the windows of the dwelling. 
But God fashioned the surroundings of man's earthly 
home with a wise regard to the windows of the soul- 



14 BIBLE PICTURES. 

Oh, beautiful was the world then ! ' No blight of sin 
had marred its loveliness — no curse of avenging 
justice smitten it with sterility and desolation. 
Standing at the window of Sight, one might behold 
a fair and smiling landscape, stretching away in 
ever-changing variety and boundless prospect — 
interspersed with forests and plains, sparkling rills 
and broad rivers, green valleys and sun-lit moun- 
tains — all fresh with the bloom of Eden, and over- 
arched by a sky whose deep azure no storm had ever 
vexed, and from which the orb of day and the con- 
stellations of night looked down with serene radi- 
ance on the virgin Earth, herself as serene and 
stainless as they. At the window of Hearing he 
might drink in the melody of Nature's many-voiced 
hymn — the glad song of birds — the music of brooks 
and waterfalls, of whispering winds and waving 
woods ; or, moving to another and then another, be 
regaled with the fruits of Paradise, and the perfume 
of unfading flowers. Clear were the windows when 
the house was first built — bright the scenes on which 
they opened — and happy the being who, himself 
yet unsinning, communed by their means with a 
world yet unfallcn. 

Still more exquisite was the perfection which the 
great Maker gave to the heavenward side of the 
house, and still more profuse the munificence with 
which He adorned it. Here also lie formed five 



THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL, 15 

rooms, each with its own window — the room of 
Understanding, the room of Conscience, the room 
of Faith, the room of Hope, and the room of Love. 
In all He hung bells, connecting them by wires 
with the door leading into this division of the build- 
ing ; so that whoever wished to communicate with 
the inmate of any particular room, had only to pull 
the wire attached to the bell in that room. And 
how accurately suited were the views from these 
rooms to excite and gratify the spiritual faculties 
residing in them. A wide lawn of living verdure, 
clustered with trees bearing celestial fruit, and am- 
brosial plants that grew from ethereal seed, extended 
onward and onward till it was lost in the uplands 
of Immortality. And so softly and imperceptibly 
did the blending take place, that you could not tell 
where Earth ended and Heaven begun. Beyond, 
in a series of sun-bathed and flowery ascents, rose 
the Mount of God ; and where its highest elevation 
seemed to melt into the sky, the Eternal City might 
be seen — its sapphire walls and battlements, its 
golden pavements and its gates of precious stones, 
refulgent with the glory of the Divine Presence, 
and flashing as with the beams of seven-fold day. 
Around it were the Blissful Fields and the Bowers 
of Amaranth, the Crystal Sea, and the River of 
Life, and the forms of glorious ones walking beside 
it. And ever and anon these glorious ones would 



16 BIBLE PICTURES. 

cross the invisible boundary, and move about on the 
lawn, or come up to the house, and bring Heaven's 
greeting to its inhabitant. 

In the contemplation of such objects what rap- 
tures must the soul have found ! And what noble 
employment was there here for its noblest powers ! 
Understanding, looking forth from its window, 
could take in the mighty revelations which every- 
where met its eye. Conscience could recognize 
their authority and sacredness — Faith give them 
form and substance, and bring them near — Hope 
anticipate their fuller unfolding — and Love rejoice 
in them, and in their Infinite Author. 

Such was the house of the soul as it came from 
the hands of its Creator. Inside and outside it was 
perfect. Its structure, its arrangements, its furni- 
ture, its environs, met the approval of their Omni- 
scient Designer, and united to render it the fitting 
abode of Holiness and Peace. And here the soul 
dwelt, occupying both parts of the house, and happy 
in both ; for in both God and Innocence were with 
her. 

Oh, that this blessed state had been perpetual ! 
But, alas ! in one fatal hour all was changed. In- 
nocence was driven from the mansion ; Beauty and 
Joy fled with it ; and guilt, deformity, and ruin took 
their places. 

While the soul was at rest in its happiness, there 



THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 17 

came to the earthly side of the house a stranger, of 
angelic form, but differing widely in mien and garb 
from the heavenly visitors that had been wont to 
frequent the precincts. He was worn as by long 
travel, and scarred as by the stroke of thunder. His 
eye glowed, not with the calm light of benevolence, 
but with the lurid fires of hatred and despair. And 
though majesty sat enthroned on his haggard brow, 
it was the majesty of desolation. He was a rebel 
against the government of Jehovah ; and rebellion 
had converted the archangel into a fiend. 

Disguising his Satanic purpose — professing to 
have come as the friend of God, and as the instructor 
of God's newly-made offspring — he surreptitiously 
gained entrance, and at once commenced his work 
of treachery and death. His first movement was to 
darken the windows that looked toward heaven, 
under the pretence that they let in too much sun- 
shine. Having thus dimmed the perception of 
eternal things, he drew the soul to the terrestrial 
front, and leading it to the window of Taste, di- 
rected its attention to a peculiar tree in the garden, 
whose fruit had been interdicted. It was the tree 
of the knowledge of Good and Evil. While man 
was allowed free access to all the other trees Avhich 
in countless numbers were bending under their 
delicious burdens — of this his Maker had forbidden 
him to eat, and had impressed the prohibition by 

2* 



18 BIBLE PICTURES. 

the sanction, "The day thou eatest thereof, thou 
shalt surely die." This interdict, intended only as 
a test of obedience, the tempter seized as an occa- 
sion for corrupting and seducing his victim — rep- 
resenting that the consequence of transgressing it 
would not be death, as the penalty threatened, but 
a higher life and wisdom — the life and the wisdom 
of gods ; that the Creator knew this, and that to 
debar His creature from such advancement was His 
sole object in publishing the decree. Oh, falsehood 
framed in hell, and worthy of its origin ! Oh, am- 
bition, how deadly was thy first uprising! The 
soul, perverted by the wiles of the Destroyer, deliri- 
ous with the inrush of new and unholy desires, 
believed the lie, and broke the commandment. 
This was a simple act, and in other relations, or 
standing by itself alone, might perhaps have been 
comparatively unimportant. But, committed as it 
was in violation of a law ordained expressly for 
trial and probation, it became at once fundamental 
and representative in its character — fundamental 
as involving the authority of God and the allegiance 
of the creature — representative as comprehending 
in its results the whole human race. 

It did its work instantly and terribly. The entire 
nature of man was hurled by it into wreck and dis- 
order. His purity was lost, his intimacy with God 
destroyed, his mind darkened, his affections de- 



THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 19 

based, his body made subject to disease and mor- 
tality. The fair world created for his home shared 
in his fall. It was Paradise no more. The foul 
breath of sin passed over it, withering its bloom, 
tarnishing its loveliness, and dooming it to barren- 
ness and decay. Thus stood the house of the soul 
— a rain surrounded by ruin. 

But the most disastrous effects of man's trans- 
gression were visible in the direction of eternity. 
On that side its fellest power was expended. There 
the destruction was utter. The smooth green lawn, 
with its flowers of supernal birth and its fountains 
welling from heaven, had become an expanse of 
black, smouldering lava, heaving Avith infernal fires ; 
and where, without break or barrier, it had met 
the immortal fields, now flowed a broad, deep river, 
w T hich no mortal foot might cross. Dense, angry 
clouds covered the Celestial Hills, and the vision of 
Glory was blotted out. The angels were all gone, 
and in their place dread forms appeared waving 
swords of flame. Fear, Darkness, and Despair 
reigned supreme, where Hope, Light, and Peace- 
had gilded all things with their rejoicing beams. 

The crime was finished. The catastrophe was 
complete. But the soul, given up to the power of 
the Deceiver, instead of endeavoring to repair the 
mischief by a penitent return to God, determined to 
make the most of its altered circumstances ; and, 



20 BIBLE PICTURES. 

since good was lost, to seek its portion in evil. 
With the aid of its remorseless foe — now become 
its more dangerous allv — it closed all the heaven- 
ward windows with thick and strong blinds, that 
not a glimpse of the devastation without might be 
seen — double-locked and bolted the front door — 
shut up all the rooms — and broke all the bell-ropes, 
except that of the bell of Conscience, which, hidden 
within the walls, and running down through the 
foundations of the building, could not be reached 
without demolishing the building itself. This done, 
the soul, under the same infernal guidance, with- 
drew to the earthly apartments, with the intent of 
living there altogether, and forgetting, amid the 
engrossments of present things, its happy Past, and 
its awful Hereafter. 

Henceforth Satan's influence was without a check. 
There was nothing to dispute his authority or resist 
his sway. He was master of the situation — lord 
of man's heart and of mans doings — "the god of 
this world." Henceforth he bent all the resources 
of his vast intellect, and all the arts of a duplicity 
equally vast, to strengthen his hold upon his captive, 
to lull him into carelessness, and drown every whis- 
per of regret or alarm. With this view, he stored 
the chambers of the Senses, in which alone the pris- 
oner now dwelt, with manifold means of carnal in- 
dulgence — witlf all that could minister to M the lust 



THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 21 

of the eye, to the lust of the flesh, and to the pride 
of life." Enticing pictures adorned the walls. 
Meretricious products of the chisel decorated the 
passages. In one room was grouped whatever of 
rare and cunning device could please the sight. 
Another was redolent with costly odors and spices 
of the East. In another were heard the din of traffic 
and the clink of gold. Another echoed with strains 
of lascivious music and sounds of bacchanalian rev- 
elry. In another were spread tables loaded with 
rich and various dainties. And in another were 
enacted scenes of bestial debauch which, like the 
chambers of imagery beheld by the prophet, were 
too vile to be described. Wealth and splendor, and 
luxury and show, and mirth and riot, were all there, 
ever treading their mazy rounds, that the soul, in- 
toxicated by the ceaseless whirl, and wrapped in 
terrene dreams, might never think of God or of 
heaven more. 

In adapting to the same end the outer world — 
his world now — the prince of Evil displayed equal 
skill and dexterity. Its original beauty he could 
not restore ; but human toil and enterprise, in- 
spired and controlled by him, effected great changes ; 
many of them valuable in themselves ; but all bear- 
ing, iu their purpose and execution, the prints of 
the Devil's fingers. The soil, cursed for man's sin, 
yielded to man's painful cultivation. Harvests 



22 BIBLE PICTURES. 

covered the land. Treasures were dug from its 
bosom. Continents were peopled. Huge cities 
sprung up as by magic, full of the temples of idola- 
try, resounding with the bustle of commerce, and 
reeking with the filth of licentiousness. Empires 
were founded and overturned. Thrones rose and 
fell. Wars raged. Embattled legions shook the 
earth. Science and civilization, invention and dis- 
covery, grew apace. Ships ploughed the seas. 
Bridges spanned the rivers. Railways tunnelled 
the mountains. The harnessed lightning encircled 
the globe. Material development, political revo- 
lutions, social progress, the ceaseless ongoing of 
terrestrial things, however important to the inter- 
ests of the present life, were made, through the 
agency of the universal Spoiler, to extrude and 
banish the life to come. 

Thus, in every age, has the god of this world 
kept the mighty panorama of its affairs moving and 
shifting before the eyes of men. From the epoch 
of the apostasy down through all the centuries, he 
has been busy at this work, varying the exhibition 
to suit each particular time, but always finding in it 
the chief instrument of his success. And never has 
this instrument been more powerful in his hands, 
never has he wielded it with more potent effect, 
than in our own land and clay. With what a rush 
and roar the tumult of the vast Babel sweeps by 



THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL, 23 

the windows of the soul! How absorbing is the 
influence of mundane concernments ! The pre-oc- 
cupations of business, the excitements of specula- 
tion, the struggle for wealth and place, the shock 
and carnage of battles, the swift succession of start- 
ling events, the jar and noise of the great social 
machine, the hurry and turmoil of earth, so rivet 
the mind's gaze as to leave it no power of upward 
vision. Thought and feeling, hope and anxiety, 
energy and resolution, are all concentrated below. 
" The strong man " — armed with these secular 
weapons, backed by this overwhelming array of in- 
ward lusts and of outward appliances for their grat- 
ification — "keepeth his palace, and his goods are 
in peace." There is no disturbance, no resistance. 
The soul surrenders itself a willing vassal to " the 
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now 
worketh in the children of disobedience." 

But there is deliverance for the soul, self-ruined 
though it be, and led captive by the Devil at his 
will. The Almighty Builder of the house has not 
renounced His rights of ownership in it, nor will He 
abandon it to the lasting possession of Satan. In 
the riches of His mercy, He has developed a plan 
by which the foul intruder may be expelled , and the 
desecrated palace restored to more than its primeval 
splendor. And the carrying out of this plan He 
has committed to His only-begotten Son. Joyfully 



24 BIBLE PICTURES. 

has the Son accepted^ the stupendous trust ; and 
already has He accomplished whatever was needful 
to prepare the way for its consummation. He has 
removed the barriers which Divine justice opposed 
to the going forth of His grace. Assuming the 
nature of fallen men, and putting Himself in their 
place, He has vindicated the dishonored law by 
bearing in His own body the death-penalty which 
they had incurred ; and has wrought out, through 
His obedience and sacrifice, a method of acceptance 
by which God can be just, and yet the Justiiicr of 
him that believeth. 

And now, having crossed the dark, bridgcless 
river, and risen victorious from its waves, He comes 
to the house of the soul on His errand of salvation. 
He approaches it oil its heavenward side. All there 
is silent, cold, and stirless. The shutters are closed ; 
the avenues blocked up with weeds and rubbish. 
There is no sign of life or habitation. Making his 
way over the crumbling fragments of columns and 
arches that strew the ground — mementoes of a 
glory departed — He reaches the door, and stands 
and listens. The stillness and gloom of the sepul- 
chre reign in this part of the dwelling. The deserted 
chambers give forth no sound. But, from the other 
side, He hears the noise of merriment and feasting 
— the uproar of Satan and the sinner in their 
revels. He calls — there is no answer. lie tries 



THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 25 

the door — it is bolted. He tries the bells — ap- 
peals to the Understanding — to Faith — to Hope 

— to Love ; but the wires are broken, and the bells 
voiceless. As He is omnipotent, He might break 
open the door, and foroe an entrance. But He 
comes to deliver, not to enslave ; and it is essential 
to His purpose that He should be admitted by the 
free choice of the soul. All other means having 
failed, He takes hold of the wire leading to the 
room of Conscience, and gives it a strong and 
urgent pull. Instantly the great bell rings with a 
deep and awful reverberation that shakes every tim- 
ber in the building. The sinner starts up affrighted. 
"What is that!" he exclaims. "Who is ringing 
that bell ? " " Don't be a fool," the Devil replies — 
" no one is ringing it — it is only fancy or the wind 

— sit down again, and you will hear it no more." 
The sinner believes him, and returns to his vanities. 
But he is ill at ease ; and scarcely has he resumed 
his interrupted worldliness, when again — toll — 
toll — toll — goes the great bell of Conscience. 
Satan tells him not to mind it ; and he strives to 
follow the advice. But he cannot help minding it. 
The dreadful sound is in his ears, and he cannot shut 
it out. Endeavor as he may not to hear it, or to 
disregard it, still — toll — toll — toll — toll — goes 
ever the great bell of Conscience, growing louder and 
more importunate with every stroke. The agonized 



26 BIBLE PICTURES. 

man can endure it no longer. The fearful tones 
pierce brain, and heart, and nerves, and rend him 
with torture. He starts up once more, crying, 
"Oh, that bell, that terrible bell ! There is surely 
some one at the long-closed spiritual door ; and I 
must see who it is, and stop his ringing or die." 
Satan attempts to prevent him ; ridicules him — 
calls him a coward — assures him that if he lets any 
one in on that side of the house, his worldly enjoy- 
ments will be at an end ; and asks if he is ready to 
exchange the delights of sense for the gloom and the 
self-denials of religion. But all the while he is ply- 
ing his sophistries, the great bell continues to peal 
out its thunders, and the sinner dares not delay. 
Finding him determined, the Devil follows him ; 
and as the sinner is about to unlock the door and 
draw the bolts, his pertinacious tyrant makes one 
more effort to retain his usurped dominion. "Hold, 
hold ! " he cries ; " they are robbers ; if you admit 
them, they will plunder you of all your pleasant 
things — perhaps murder you." " Ah ! it is no rob- 
ber," the sinner answers. "My heart tells me who 
it is. It is the long-forgotten Owner of the house — 
lie who built it, and put me in it, and commanded 
me to keep it, and to keep you out of it. He has 
come to claim His property. He may destroy me, 
or send me to prison, for my wicked contempt 
of His orders; and 1 deserve whatever He may 



THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 27 

inflict. But open to Him I must, and open to Him 
I will." 

The baffled seducer departs ; and the sinner, freed 
from his control, approaches the door. Half shrink- 
ing from his resolve, distracted by doubts and appre- 
hensions, afraid to go forward, and still more afraid 
to go back, he applies the key of Prayer, and with 
trembling hands shoves back the bolts one after 
another, till he reaches the main bolt — the bolt of 
the Will. This, always a hard bolt to push, has 
become so fixed in its groove by the rust of long 
disuse, as to resist all his exertions. He tugs and 
struggles at it, but it will not move. He grows dis- 
couraged — thinks he can never get the door open, 
and had better give over the attempt. But at this 
moment the unresting bell sends forth a clang more 
threatening than ever. With the strength of desper- 
ation, he seizes the bolt — it yields, the door flies 
open, and, helpless and terror-stricken, he falls pros- 
trate on the threshold, expecting to see before him 
a Face of wrath, and the vision of outraged Majesty, 
brandishing the sword of justice. But, instead of 
these, what does he behold? A Form like unto the 
Son of Man — a countenance beaming with pity and 
tenderness ; a brow godlike indeed, yet bearing the 
marks of its thorny crown ; a body glorified now, 
yet pierced with gaping wounds ; hands laden with 
gifts, yet showing where the nails were driven 



28 BIBLE PICTURES. 

home. And as he looks and wonders, he hears a 
voice, sweet as Mercy's own, saying to him, "These 
wounds I bore for thee, these gifts I brins: to thee ; 
I come, not to condemn, but to save." The sinner 
feels his heart melt ; that heart, so hard, so dead, 
so despairing, overflows with penitence, gratitude, 
and love ; and, clasping the feet of his Deliverer, he 
exclaims, "My Lord, and my God." 

Invited and welcomed by the soul, the Redeemer 
enters the mansion. He passes through the several 
apartments, and at once throws open the shutters, 
and lets in the light. Oh, what a spectacle is then 
revealed ! If you go away and leave your houses 
shut up even for a few weeks, you know how rapidly 
dust accumulates in them, and how soon damp and 
mould stain the walls, and soil the furniture. But 
these rooms had been closed ever since the far dis- 
tant hour in which the soul forsook its God. During' 
Jill that dreary interval not a breath of heaven's air 
had visited them, not a gleam from on high had 
penetrated their darkness. The foulness engen- 
dered in them by the first transgression had never 
been removed ; and to this original impurity had 
been added the manifold abominations of succeed- 
ing years. Here, as in a secret receptacle, the sin- 
ner had deposited all the pollution of his outward 
life. And now, as these hidden iniquities are dis- 
closed, what festering uncleanncss everywhere aj> 



THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 29 

pears ! Ruins of the fall, heaps of refuse, the dirt 
of worldliness, the reek of evil passions, the filth 
of evil deeds, litter all the floors, discolor all the 
ceilings, infest every corner, and fill the rooms with 
putridity and death. 

Appalled at the sight, the penitent seizes the 
broom of good- works, and begins to sweep. But 
this only raises a dust that blinds and smothers him. 
The Saviour checks him with the assurance that 
mere moral sweeping, however useful elsewhere, is 
powerless here ; and then, dipping a bunch of hys- 
sop into a vessel filled with His own blood, He sprin- 
kles the chambers of the soul. Suddenly, at the 
touch of that blood, all their defilement vanishes ; 
and they become sweet with the fragrance of heaven, 
and glorious in the beauty of imparted holiness. 
As damp, mephitic vapors, that, in the chill night- 
time, envelop mountain and lowland in their mala- 
rious folds, sullying the fair face of nature, are 
exhaled and dispersed by the beams of day, so does 
the blood of Christ, applied by the eternal Spirit, 
purge the conscience from dead works, to serve the 
living God. 

Having thus cleansed and purified the apartments, 
the loving Saviour conducts the soul to the now 
open windows, and bids it contemplate the pros- 
pect. How wonderful the renovation ! The lawn 
is restored to a brighter than its pristine verdure. 

3* 



30 BIBLE PICTURES. 

Trees and plants are again growing in it, resembling 
the paradisaic in form and fruit, but with a richer 
sap, and a more indestructible vitality. The angels 
have come back. The clouds are gone from the 
Heavenly Hills, and the City of God stands out in 
clear vision. The dark river is still there ; but a 
bridge has been thrown across it — a new and living 
way consecrated by the blood of Christ ; and, rising 
from its hither end, a rainbow spans the passage, 
and lifts its luminous arch high over the shining 
mountains and the throne above. With what new- 
born delight the believer looks forth for the first 
time on this celestial landscape ! As he goes from 
window to window, he catches at each new aspects 
and fresh attractions. But it is at the window of 
Hope that he loves best to linger ; and while gazing 
thence along golden vistas opening into far realms 
of blessedness, he gives utterance to his joy in the 
sweet w T ords of the old hymn : — 

"My willing soul would stay, 
In such a frame as this, 
And sit and sing herself away 
To everlasting bliss. 1 ' 

But, at present, there is other occupation for him. 
His relations to time as well as to eternity must he 
sanctified. The whole house is not yet reclaimed. 
And hence the Divine Master and I lis new disciple 
now turn their steps to the earthly rooms — the 



THE HOUSE OF THE SOUL. 31 

rooms in which Satan and the sinner so long held 
carnival. All of them exhibit mournful proofs of 
the vile uses to which they have been subjected. 
Every closet, every passage-way, is full of infection 
and rottenness. The slime of greed, the taint of 
selfishness, the trail of vicious habits, the relics of 
sensual orgies, are everywhere to be seen. But the 
grace that has renewed the heart can reform the 
conduct. The power that could renovate the spirit- 
ual side of the house is able also to renovtite the 
secular. At the behest of Christ the work is com- 
menced ; through the strength of Christ the work is 
achieved. The remains of the old godless life, the 
remnants and the instruments of its wickedness, are 
cast out and burned. The rooms are swept and 
garnished, consecrated by prayer, perfumed with 
righteousness, adorned with beneficence: and then 
the crowning finish is given by writing on all the 
doors, "Holiness to the Lord." 

The Saviour having thus come in, and the entire 
mansion having been set in order for His reception . 
the promised supper now begins. In this Jesus, 
though entering as a guest, acts the part of host. 
The prodigal, just redeemed from bondage and beg- 
gary, has nothing. Christ must find all. He leads 
the soul to the banqueting room, spreads over it the 
banner of His love, provides the repast, presides at 
the board, dispenses the living bread and the new 



32 BIBLE PICTURES. 

wine of the kingdom. And there they sit — the 
God-man and the saved man — supping with each 
other in intimate and holy fellowship. Great is the 
joy of both — on the one side the joy of happiness 
conferred, ou the other the joy of happiness re- 
ceived. And that joy travels beyond the immediate 
scene of their communion. Waiting angels catch 
it up and bear it to the skies. And so there is joy 
on earth and in heaven over the House of the Soul 
Recovered. 




CHAPTER H. 
THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 

"AND SUDDENLY THERE WAS WITH THE ANGEL A MULTITUDE OF 
THE HEAVENLY HOST, PRAISING GOD, AND SAYING, GLORY TO GOD 
IN THE HIGHEST, AND ON EARTH PEACE, GOOD-WILL TOWARD MEN." 

—Luke ii. 13, 14. 

'E often see, when thick cloncls overspread 
the horizon, a rift suddenly opening in 
their dense masses, and a streak of clear 
sky gleaming through, and touching their 
dark edges with golden sunshine. This 
beautiful fact finds a striking moral resemblance in 
the occasional flashes of light from heaven which 
shone on the earthly life of our Lord. 

The object for which He visited this mortal sphere 
required that His sojourning in it should be marked 
by abasement and suffering. He came not to ex- 
hibit the splendors of His kingly state — not to awe 
the nations by displays of celestial power — but, by 
uniting the Divine with the human, to achieve, in 
the two-fold nature, the part of a perfect Mediator 
between God and men. To accomplish this merci- 
ful undertaking, He must lay aside the outward 
manifestations of Godhead, disrobe Himself of the 
glory which He had worn from eternity, assume the 

33 



34 BIBLE PICTURES. 

garb of flesh, and descend to its infirmities and pri- 
vations. From the very design of His coming, His 
residence below was necessarily one long sorrow — 
one continuous scene of ignominy. 

Nevertheless, the thoughtful student of His his- 
tory cannot but observe that, whenever His humili- 
ation seemed the deepest, and the earth-cloud in 
which He dwelt wrapped its shadows most darkly 
round Him, some outbursting of almightiness, some 
radiant testimony beaming down from the upper 
world, broke through the gloom, and asserted His 
majesty. How brightly, and at how many points, 
these revealings of Deity blaze along His pathway 
of wondrous travail ! At His baptism, though noth- 
ing of earthly grandeur distinguished Him from the 
common throng, yet no sooner had He risen from 
the wave, than the windows of heaven were opened, 
and the dove-like Spirit descended upon Him ; while 
the voice of the Everlasting Father proclaimed, 
"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well 
pleased." When, fatigued by the severity of His 
labors, He cast Himself down " in the hinder part 
of the ship," and, amid the rocking of the billows, 
sunk into the sleep of utter weariness — who that 
had looked upon Him as He lay there, pale, worn, 
exhausted — His head pillowed on a locker — the 
sky His covering — would have recognized in that 
prostrate form the Maker and Lord of earth and 



THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 35 

sea? But when, awakened by the cry of His disci- 
ples, He rose from His hard couch, and looked forth 
on the angry surges, and stretching out his hand 
over them, pronounced those calm words of con- 
scious power, "Peace, be still ! " the Omnipotent 
stood disclosed; and the hushed winds, and the 
shining stars, and the glassy waters, and the saved 
vessel speeding to the shore, bore witness to His 
presence. More distinct and impressive still were 
these attestations in the hour which consummated 
His atoning sacrifice. On the cross, the cup of 
scorn which He was to drink was filled to the 
brim. In that death of shame, He reached the 
lowest depth through which He was to pass. But 
where His glory was most obscured, there also it 
was most declared. The quaking earth, the shroud- 
ed skies, the shuddering universe, paid homage to 
the dying Redeemer. 

As the mission of Jesus ended, so it began, amid 
supernatural confirmations. True it is that no ma- 
terial tokens signalized His arrival. This fallen 
planet rolled along its orbit, undisturbed by the 
visit of its Creator. Human affairs moved in their 
wonted course. The whole circle of terrestrial 
things gave no hint that the mightiest event of the 
centuries had just taken place. There were no prep- 
arations to receive Him — no stir of the elements, 
no greetings of men, to hail and welcome Him. 



36 BIBLE PICTUBES. 

The dwellers in Bethlehem slumbered ou, uncon- 
scious that their lowly hamlet had been made mem- 
orable for all the ages as the birth-spot of the Hope 
of the ages. Even the descendants of David assem- 
bled there knew not that David's Son and Heir, 
the long-expected King, had entered on His reign. 
But though the world which he came to save slept 
in its darkness, unheeding, unresponsive, Heaven 
was not silent. Its joy swelled over the empyreal 
battlements, and swept, in rapturous hosannas, down 
to earth. 

Eastward from Bethlehem lies a region of hills 
and deep gorges, which from the earliest times has 
been devoted to pasturage. Here the youthful 
David kept his lather's sheep, and in his frequent 
contests with the prowling tenants of those wild 
glens acquired the valor and hardihood which ren- 
dered him in after years the most renowned warrior 
of his race. In the same locality, on the night in 
which the Saviour was born, shepherds were guard- 
ing their flocks ; and to them seraphic voices brought 
the glorious intelligence. They were awake, while 
all others were locked in forgctfulness ; and it is to 
the wakeful only that communications of grace are 
sent. 

It may, at the first glance, strike us with sur- 
prise, that the angels should have procl aimed their 
message in so retired a scene, and to men who, 



THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 37 

from their solitary life and humble calling, were so 
little likely to spread it abroad, or to win for it 
belief. "We might think that the announcement 
would have been far more commanding and effective 
had its celestial bearers gone, with their train of 
dazzling light, to the Holy City, and, pouring forth 
their triumphant song from the pinnacle of the tem- 
ple, electrified the sleeping multitudes below with 
the news of Messiah's birth. But such a mode of 
publication would have been utterly at variance 
with the character of Christ's future ministry. He 
shunned ostentatious display — never seeking the 
public gaze — never courting the wonder of crowds. 
He moved among the abodes of men only as a Divine 
Teacher and Healer, coming forth but to succor 
and bless, and withdrawing into solitude when His 
work was done. The lonely mountain-side, and the 
shore of the silent lake, were His favorite resorts ; 
and there, remote from noise and tumult, He passed 
the still hours in communion with His Father. 
And hence the proclamation of His appearance in 
the thronged streets of Jerusalem, or under any 
other imposing circumstances, would have been in 
violent contradiction to His whole spirit and con- 
duct. 

Xor would a procedure of this kind have suited 
well with the purpose of His coming. That purpose 
was to bring peace — peace to the soul, peace to the 
4 



38 BIBLE PICTUIiES. 

nations. But peace harmonizes best with the quiet 
and seclusion of rural surroundings, and is alien to 
the turmoil of the world's great centres. This 
thought a celebrated painter has worked out with 
consummate skill. Taking for his theme the return 
of peace after the uproar and carnage of war, he has 
pictured a soft, green meadow, dotted over with 
grazing sheep — a broken cannon lying on the 
ground, and a lamb, led by a little child, licking its 
dumb mouth. There is truth as well as beauty in 
the conception. Peace loves the deep woods, the 
grassy vales, the calm river, the voiceless hills, the 
hush of night, and the placid heaven overarching 
all. There is her chosen retreat, her appropriate 
home. There her truest votaries have ever been 
found. Fitly indeed did the angel messengers 
select such a scene, when they left the ethereal 
realms to make known to men the advent of the 
Prince of Peace. The time, the place, the tidings, 
the listeners, were all in unison. 

AVe cannot doubt, moreover, that these lowly 
watchers in the wilderness were better prepared 
than the denizens of the Jewish metropolis to com- 
prehend and welcome the message. Their silent 
converse with Nature and with God had wakened 
in them an earnest longing for "for the Consolation 
of Israel," and a perception of the spiritual bearings 
of His office, unknown to the frequenters of the 



THE SHEPHERDS AXD THE ANGELS. oSJ 

Temple and the Synagogue. The priests and rulers. 
the teachers and expounders of the Law. who gave 
tone to religious opinion, cherished, it is true,, the 
expectation of a Messiah, and disputed much about 
the time and manner of His appearance. But then- 
views . however divergent, were altogether carnal. 
They looked only for temporal benefits — for a Hero- 
King, — coining in pomp and power to release them 
from the yoke of their foreign oppressors, and set 
up an earthly sovereignty that should dominate the 
world. The shepherds, on the other hand, dwell- 
ing apart from the speculations of the schools, had ob- 
tained a deeper insight into the meaning of the Mes- 
sianic Promise, and profo under ideas of the Deliv- 
erer whom it foretold . They belonged to the devout 
few, scattered over the land — mostly poor and illit- 
erate — whose receptive souls God had taught, and 
who were waiting in pious hope for His salvation. 
Xo wonder that the angel-heralds, turning away 
from the worshippers of their own wisdom — from 
Scribe and Rabbi, from the palaces of the unbeliev- 
ing great — carried the burden of their joy to the 
simple keepers of flocks, out in the lone fields. 
It was in accordance with the method of Divine 
dispensation. It has always been so. It is so now. 
The things of Christ are hidden from the wise 
and prudent, and revealed unto babes. The same 
worldly bias and intellectual pride, which so often 



40 BIBLE PICTURES. 

indispose the rich and cultured of our own times to 
receive the Gospel, were equally active among the 
Jews. The educated classes were either infidel 
Sadducees, denying a future state, and man's moral 
need ; or self-righteous Pharisees, steeped in tradi- 
tion and ritualism. But these wanderers in the 
mountains were of a nobler strain, with minds less 
warped by prejudice, less fettered by material pre- 
possessions, more teachable, more serious, more 
pervaded by a sense of personal guilt, more ready, 
therefore, to accept Christ in His highest character 
as a Eedeemer from sin. Heaven is nigh to the 
humble and sincere in heart; and from it now 
comes, to souls prepared and waiting, the glad 
assurance that the mercy so fervently desired has 
been fulfilled. 

Let us imagine the scene, and endeavor to sketch 
it in its living reality. In some quiet glade, bright 
with fresh verdure, skirted with olives and syca- 
mores, and watered by a murmuring brook, the 
shepherds have chosen their watching-place for the 
night. Their flocks are collected about them — 
some feeding, some lying down in groups, some 
straying up the sides of the ravine, or along the 
avenues among the trees. The sky is cloudless ; 
and the full moon, rising above the distant heights 
of Moab, sheds its mild beams upon the landscape, 
making every brown crag, and gnarled trunk, and 



THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 41 

leaf, and dew-drop, quiver and glisten in the silvery 
sheen. Slowly the hours wear on ; deep midnight 
is over the earth ; yet those faithful guardians yield 
not to slumber. Reclining on a green bank, whence 
they can survey their charge, they converse together 
on the subject dearest to their hearts — the prom- 
ised redemption of Israel — meditate on the predic- 
tions respecting it, and ponder the signs which 
betoken its near approach. While they thus speak 
and muse, suddenly a flood of celestial radiance is 
poured around them, dimming the stars with its 
lustre, and bringing out into distinct view cliff and 
valley, mountain and plain, stream and forest. 
Astonished and appalled, they start to their feet, 
and gaze upward ; when, lo ! above them, hovering 
with outspread wings, appears a shining form, look- 
ing down upon them with eyes in which the soft 
light of love and sympathy blends with the majestic 
glance of the immortals. But before they can ex- 
press their terror, from the lips of the glorious visi- 
tant come words whose music, strange till then to 
human ears, the redeemed shall echo forever, "Fear 
not ; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great 
joy, which shall be to all people ; for unto you is 
born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which 
is Christ the Lord." Oh ! the blissful news ! Oh ! 
the wondrous story ! Can they believe it ? Has the 
long-deferred day of Mercy dawned at last ? How 

4* 



42 BIBLE PICTURES. 

their souls dilate as they take in the might} 7 truth, 
and catch glimpses of its import to themselves, to 
their countrymen, to all the kindreds of the earth ! 
Little time, however, is allowed them for such 
thoughts. In an instant, another marvel meets 
their sight, and renews their amazement. There is 
no longer one bright form above them, but many. 
The liuniuous air is full of heavenly harpers, and 
all alive with their melody. As often in earthly 
anthems a single voice introduces the performance, 
and is followed by choir and orchestra in a grand 
burst of harmony ; so Gabriel opens the Hymn of 
the Nativity with his magnificent solo, rehearsing 
the birth of Jesus ; and then the whole seraphic 
host breaks forth in the exulting chorus, " Glory to 
God in the highest ; on earth peace ; good-will to- 
ward men." Never before have mortals heard a 
strain like this. Rich and joyous were the hosannas 
which the sons of God shouted over the new-born 
world. Sweet to the homeless and the captive were 
the notes which the Jubilee trumpet pealed along 
the hills of Palestine. But richer, sweeter far, falls 
the angel-song on the hearts of those midnight watch- 
era, and on the ear of a listening universe. It cele- 
brates the ushering in of the new Era of light and 
happiness. It tells of sin expiated and forgiven ; 
of harmony restored between earth and heaven ; of 
God magnified on high ; of man redeemed below. 



THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 43 

And it is the prelude to songs yet loftier and more 
entrancing, which, in the realms of bliss, will be 
chanted by ransomed millions through eternal ages. 

The chorus of the angels distributes itself into 
three parts, corresponding to the three-fold aspect 
of the Mediatorial economy. Glancing down the 
vista of the ages, it surveys the progressive devel- 
opment of that economy, and sings its triumphs as 
they appear in the fuller unfolding of the Divine 
perfections, the restoration of peace to a disordered 
world, and the establishment of that new order of 
moral administration in which the favor of the All- 
Holy can be extended to sinful men. Over the in- 
auguration of issues so momentous well might the 
angelic lyres ring out their loudest paean ; and well 
may we, whose all for time and eternity is embraced 
in those issues, take up the theme, and strive to 
catch something of its spirit and import. 

In the redemptive work of Christ the glory of 
God finds its highest expression. The essential 
glory of God, like His nature, is absolute and in- 
capable of change. No force of circumstances, no 
concurrence of events, can increase or diminish it. 
As He is ever the same, — perfect, all-sufficient, 
infinite, — His glory must ever remain immutable 
and complete. But that glory as it is unveiled to 
His creatures — as it is seen in the outgoings of His 
agency — may appear in lights clearer or more ob- 



44 BIBLE PICTURES. 

scure, according to the forms of its manifestation. 
In this respect, and in this alone, can we speak of it 
as greater or less. 

The glory of Jehovah is displayed in all the oper- 
ations of His hand. Every forthputting of His 
enersrv is radiant with it. In the domains of crea- 
tion and of providence — in the formation and con- 
tinued upholding of all worlds and of all beings — 
His power, wisdom and beneficence are revealed in 
characters so distinct and emphatic, that no eye can 
fail to read their lesson. On every part of the vast 
temple of nature that lesson is inscribed. Every 
order of existence, animate or inanimate, echoes it. 
It is the hymn of the universe — the tribute which 
all life sends up to the Giver and Preserver of all 
life. The heavens declare His glory. Sun, and 
moon, and stars, and planets, sing it in their courses. 
Each rolling orb, each blazing meteor, is vocal with 
it. From the City of the great King — the centre 
and capital of His dominions — to the farthest globe 
that skirts the empty void, the whole circle of cre- 
ated things proclaims the praise of the One Maker 
and the One Sustainer. And even this lower sphere, 
on which the deep shadows of sin have fallen, ob- 
scuring the Divine munificence, and arresting its 
outflow, bears nevertheless no feeble witness to the 
glory of Him who clothed it with its original bright- 
ness, and who, in its degradation, still governs and 



THE SHEPHERDS AXD THE AXGELS. 45 

blesses it. Shrouded as it is in moral darkness, 
and scarred as it is with the marks of righteous judg- 
ment, the honor of the Almighty is yet the prevail- 
ing exhibition throughout its mingled scenes, and 
the grandest refrain of its multitudinous yokes. 
The seasons in their change repeat it. Day unto 
day uttereth speech of it, and night unto night show- 
eth knowledge. Stormy winds are its trumpeters. 
The thunder peals it. The ocean swells it with its 
solemn bass. The breeze whispers it. Hills and 
y alleys, rocks and trees, shimmering leayes and 
blushing flowers, babbling rills and gliding riyers, 
are all tuneful with it: and earth, though outcast 
and a wanderer, joins her unfallen sisters in show- 
ing forth the greatness and loying kindness of the 
universal Father. 

But these revelations of the Divine character in 
the realms of matter, and on the platform of provi- 
dential superintendence, however striking in them- 
selves, do not bring out all its effulgence, nor give 
to it the noblest exemplification of which it is sus- 
ceptible. The glory which they unfold is not " glory 
in the highest/' "When Omnipotence has fashioned 
the worlds from nothingness, and Wisdom has bal- 
anced them in their orbits, and Benevolence has 
peopled them with conscious being, and Bounty has 
poured out its stores to supply the needs of its 
unnumbered pensioners, and an Eye all-seeing and 



46 BIBLE PICTURES. 

a Hand all-controlling have directed the complex 
mechanism of creation to its appointed ends, there 
yet remains a grander, loftier manifestation — the 
going forth of all these attributes for the rescue of 
the lost. God is glorious, unspeakably glorious, in 
the emanations of His life-giving power with which 
He has strewed immensity ; in the overflowing ful- 
ness that feeds His dependent offspring ; in the love 
that rejoices in their happiness ; in the omniscience 
that guides the affairs of His boundless empire. 
But in devising a method by which men, who have 
broken away from their allegiance to Him, may be 
recovered and saved, He has set forth His perfec- 
tions in their most resplendent and wondrous aspect. 
Redemption is His sublimest work. It has depths 
which no finite line can fathom, heights to which no 
angel's wing can soar, breadths which no glance but 
His own can take in. Here we see the Eternal 
Sovereign delivering to death His Only Begotten 
Son, to open the way of life to those who, by their 
contempt of His authority and their abuse of His 
goodness, deserved to perish. Here is the tri- 
umph of Grace — here the victory of Love. Here 
the claims of Justice, and the rights of Majesty, and 
the inviolability of Holiness, are all guarded and 
vindicated ; while Mercy, accredited and sanctioned 
by atoning blood, is free to sound abroad her procla- 
mation of amnesty, and proffer the blessedness of 



THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 47 

heaven to every sinner that believeth. Oh, the 
riches of God's remedial scheme ! Oh, the abysses 
of glory in the great Propitiation ! Before the mar- 
vel of the Cross all other marvels are dwarfed. 
Compared with its splendors, all other splendors 
grow dim. It stands amid the moral universe, the 
radiating centre of light, and hope, and joy, illus- 
trating whatever is dark in the Divine economy, and 
attracting to itself the supreme regards of the intelli- 
gent creation. And when the power of that Cross 
shall have wrought its final results — when the spir- 
itual transformations which it achieves shall infold 
every tribe and kindred of our race — when this sunk 
planet shall have been lifted by it from the gulf of 
rebellion, and hung once more to its Maker's throne 

— how transcendent the glory which will then be 
ascribed to " God in the highest ! " It will be the 
glory of a world recovered — the glory of multitudes 
which no man can number raised from guilt and woe 
to everlasting purity and happiuess — a glory that, 
in the heaven of heavens, will constitute the theme 
of that mighty symphony — never ceasing, ever new 

— of which the Bethlehem song was the first opening 
measure. • 

But not alone in its celestial relations do the 
angels contemplate the Redeemer's birth. They 
hail it as the dawn of " peace on earth " — the en- 
trance upon this arena of conflict of a great reconcil- 



48 BIBLE PICTURES. 

ing force, by which the disorders of humanity shall 
be repaired, and repose and harmony succeed to the 
dissonance of strife and the turmoil of passion. 
This beautiful world, over whose virgin face God 
breathed His holy calm, sin has converted into a 
scene of fierce discord and tumult — a wide battle- 
field of moral antagonisms. There is war between 
man and his Creator; there is war between man 
and nature ; there is war between man and soci- 
ety ; there is war in man's own heart. The whole 
domain of mortality, like the ocean when the tem- 
pest bursts upon it, is convulsed and upheaved by 
the collisions of interest, the struggles of ambi- 
tion, the clash of rival lusts, the greed, the hatred, 
the violence of beings who, in forsaking their God, 
have forsaken all rest. How dreadful have been 
the consequences of transgression ! With what dire 
evils and direr fears has man's depravity surrounded 
man's terrestrial abode ! Want, and crime, and 
perturbation, and sorrow, encompass him below ; 
while above him frowns an angry Heaven, portend- 
ing retribution ! 

Upon this dark and troubled state Jesus comes to 
shed peace. To the carrying gut of His gracious 
purpose, the demands of the broken law, and the 
alienation of the human heart from God, oppose a 
double barrier. But the might of His atonement 
removes every obstruction. By taking upon Him- 



THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 49 

self the sins of men, and suffering the penalty which 
they deserved, He has honored the justice of the 
Most High, and satisfied all its requirements. And 
the subduing power of His death, brought home by 
the Holy Spirit to the consciousness of the believ- 
ing soul, melts its estrangement, and changes its 
enmity into love. Thus, by faith in Christ, the 
sinner finds the peace of acceptance and pardon. 
Xo longer roaming in the unrest of guilt and con- 
demnation, he draws nigh to the Divine Source of 
peace, and drinks health and gladness from its living 
fountains. He is at peace with God, and God with 
him. The wall of righteous displeasure on the one 
side, and of depraved aversion on the other, is 
broken down ; and the offended Father and the 
offending child meet in a blissful reunion. He is 
at peace with himself. A new principle of life — 
the heaven-born element of love, and hope, and joy 
— has been enthroned within him ; and its presence 
stills the uproar of the carnal affections, the agi- 
tations of remorse, and the forebodings of doom. 
At peace with God through the justifying merits of 
the Saviour — at peace with himself through the 
cleansing grace of the Sanctifier — his whole being 
is bathed in a tranquillity kindred with that of the 
blessed. An atmosphere of peace envelops and 
pervades him. Above, around, within — all is 
peace. The heavens smile peace ; the earth is full 

5 



50 BIBLE PICTURES. 

of peace ; the air breathes it ; the brooks murmur 
it ; the trees wave it in every rustling bough ; the 
mountains shout it to each other ; and land and 
sea, the beaming arch of day, the starry vault of 
night, the myriad voices of Nature, respond in sym- 
pathy, when the Judge of all pronounces peace, and 
the witnessing Comforter seals it to the soul. Oh ! 
where, in all the world, shall peace be found so 
rich, so perfect, so enduring as that which the Gos- 
pel gives ? There is peace when the roar of battle 
has died away, and the slain lie pale and cold under 
the pitying skies. There is peace when the storm 
is over, and the wrecks strew the shore. There is 
peace when the hurricane has passed, leaving havoc 
and ruin in its pathway. There is peace when some 
dread hour in life's conflict has gone by, though the 
clouds may return after the rain, and the struggle 
be renewed to-morrow. But how empty, how tran- 
sient are these, in comparison with the peace which 
the Lord of Peace confers on all who receive Him ! 
The peace which Jesus brings is pure, solid, last- 
ing, independent of outward circumstances, dis- 
turbed by no hostile influence ; a peace which, while 
it elevates man's temporal condition, meets the 
deepest yearnings of his spiritual nature, and gilds 
all the scenes Of his wayfaring with the pledge of 
eternal peace hereafter. 

This peace is the great want of our suffering rare. 



THE SHEPHERDS AXD THE AXGELS. 51 

Let it only become universal, and the woes with 
which human wickedness has so long scourged the 
world will disappear : selfishness and wrong, op- 
pression and war. will cease : order will spring out 
of confusion, violence give place to love : and the 
golden bond of Christianity unite in one vast brother- 
hood all the nations of the earth. And this delight- 
ful anticipation will yet be realized. The prophecy 
of the angels was not a poetic dream. It is to be 
fulfilled, fulfilled literally, fulfilled in its complete- 
ness. "Peace on earth n — hitherto a prediction, a 
hope — shall, in God's own time, be a glorious fact. 
He, whose purposes cannot fail, has decreed it. 
For this end Christ lived and died. For this end 
the Holy Spirit has come down. For this end 
the word of truth has been given. And all things 
are tending onward to its consummation. The 
march of events, the beckonings of Providence, the 
promises of Scripture, the covenant of redemption, 
the might of the Cross, point, with no doubtful 
meaning, to the arrival of that crowning epoch when 
the peace, begun at Bethlehem, shall reach all 
hearts, and cover the a'lobe. 

" Down the dark future, through long generation?. 
The echoing sounds grow fainter, and then cease ; 
And like a bell, with solemn, sweet vibrations, 
I hear once more the voice of Christ sav « Peace ! ' 



52 BIBLE PICTURES. 

" Peace ! and no longer from its brazen portals 

The blast of war's great organ shakes the skies ! 
But beautiful as songs of the immortals 
The holy melodies of love arise." 

K Good-will toward men " was the closing strain 
in the heavenly anthem. This is the climax of the 
whole — the key-stone in the all-embracing arch of 
Divine Merc}'. Here is the source and fountain- 
head of salvation. The dispensation of Grace, like 
the river of life which the apocalyptic seer beheld 
gushing out from beneath the throne of God and 
the Lamb, has its origin in the depths of Ever- 
lasting Love. It was because the heart of the All- 
Father yearned over His rebellious offspring, that 
He took thought for their recovery, and provided 
the means of its accomplishment. The compassions 
of Deity inaugurated the system of reconciliation 
developed in the mission of Jesus, and in the restor- 
ing agencies which it brought into action. By this 
exercise of sovereign benevolence, men arc placed 
under an economy of good-will and favor ; a new 
order of relations is established between them and 
the Just One from whom they have revolted ; and 
on the ground of those relations overtures of for- 
giveness and amity may now go forth through all 
the length and breadth of our apostate humanity. 
And thus from God's loving kindness proceeds that 
apparatus of redemption which, in its ultimate work- 



THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. l>3 

ings, shall fill heaven with His glory, and earth with 
His peace. 

The song is finished, and the celestial singers soar 
upward to their home ; while their mortal listeners, 
recovering from the wonder and awe in which they 
have been held, say one to another, "Let us go now 
unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come 
to pass." What sight awaits them there ? A kingly 
child, born in a palace, clad in costly garments, a 
divine nimbus encircling its head, and troops of 
angelic ministers guarding its repose ? No — a 
kingly child indeed, but housed in a manger, 
wrapped in coarse swathing bands, and attended 
only by the Virgin Mother and the faithful Joseph. 
Would the wise men of Jerusalem have recognized 
their Messiah in a form so lowly, and in circum- 
stances so unimposing ? But these heaven-instructed 
seekers, looking beyond the outward and the carnal, 
behold in that obscure babe, cradled in want, un- 
honored, unknown, the Anointed of the Father, and 
with joyful reverence worship the Kedeemer of the 
world. 

Let us go with the shepherds to Bethlehem. He 
who lies there is our Saviour as well as theirs — the 
Lord of Jew and Gentile — the Hope of all ages and 
nations. From His abasement learn the depth of 
our own fall, since, to reach us, the Son of the 
Highest must stoop so low. Read in His humble 

5* 



54 BIBLE PICTURES. 

birth the condescension and love which brought 
Him from the throne of eternity, and made Him 
one with us and one of us, that by His suffering life 
and vicarious death He mi^'ht raise us to His own 
holiness and blessedness. AVelcome Him, embrace 
Him, adore Him. Briug to Him the offerings most 
precious in His sight — penitent and believing 
hearts, and living obedience. And then shall we 
see Him at last iu the glory to which He has re- 
turned, and share that glory forever. 

"When from tby beaming throne, 

O High and Holy One ! 
Thou eam'st to dwell with those of mortal birth ; 

No ray cf living light 

Flashed on th' astonished sight, 
To show the Godhead walked His subject earth. 

" Thine was no awful form, 

Shrouded in mist and storm, 
Of seraph, walking on the viewless wind ; 

Nor didst Thou deign to wear 

The port, sublimely fair, 
Of angel-heralds, sent to bless mankind. 

" Made like the sons of clay, 

Thy matchless glories lay 
In form of feeble infancy concealed ; 

X" pomp of outward sign 

Proclaimed the Power Divine ; 
Xo earthly state the Heavenly Guest revealed. 



THE SHEPHERDS AND THE ANGELS. 55 

" Thou didst not choose thy home 

Beneath a lordly dome ; 
No regal diadem wreathed thy baby brow, 

Nor on a soft couch laid, 

Nor in rich vest arrayed, 
But with the poorest of the poor wert Thou ! " 




CHAPTER III. 
THE YEAR-SABBATH. 
" In the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound 

THROUGHOUT ALL YOUR LAND." — LevitiCUS XXV. 9. 

MONG the social institutions of the Hebrews, 
none were more significant and beautiful 
than the Year of Jubilee. By the ordinance 
of God given to Moses, every fiftieth year 
was to be set apart as a Sabbath — a season 
of hallowed repose and freedom — in which every 
debt was to be cancelled, every bondman released, 
every alienated inheritance restored. However 
important this arrangement may have been in an 
economic and temporal point of view, there cannot 
be a question that it was appointed chiefly as a type, 
foreshowing the spiritual redemption of men by the 
Gospel. Our Saviour accordingly began His pub- 
lic teaching on earth by declaring that He came to 
proclaim " the Acceptable Year of the Lord," and 
that in the Salvation which He published was ful- 
filled all that the ancient Jubilee had prefigured. 

It is the design of the present sketch to delineate 
this period under its evangelic aspects. 

CG 



THE YEAR- SAB BATH. Di 

In the very circumstances that attended its usher- 
ing in, there was a clear looking forward to the 
epoch of Messiah. The grand intent of the Le- 
vitical Economy was to remind those on whose 
behalf it was instituted, that they were transgres- 
sors against the Divine Law. and. therefore, stood 
in need of mercy. For the inculcation of this great 
troth, many impressive ordinances and symbols 
were appointed. Prominent among these was the 
offering of animals in sacrifice, as a means of expi- 
ating guilt, and propitiating the favor of God. In 
addition to the daily and ordinary sacrifices, it was 
enacted that a special sacrifice should be presented 
once every year for the sins of the whole people. 
It was at the close of this annual atonement that the 
Jubilee was to commence : and the ceremonies her- 
alding its introduction were marked with peculiar 
solemuity. The high priest, having presented sin- 
offerings for himself and for the congregation, went 
with his censer and incense into the Holy of Holies 

— the inner Sanctuary, where dwelt the Shekinah. 
and where were the Cherubim and the Mercy-Seat 

— and there sprinkled the blood of the victims in 
the immediate presence of Jehovah. Having thus 
performed the two-fold work of atonement and 
intercession, he arrayed himself in the most splen- 
did robes of his office, and comiug forth before the 
assembled multitudes, pronounced on them the ben- 



58 BIBLE PICTURES. 

edict ion of the Lord. The priests and Levites, who 
had been waiting his return, when they saw him 
appear, and heard the blessing from his lips, gave a 
blast with their trumpets, as a signal that then had 
bejjim the irlad Year of Release — the Sacred Sab- 
bath of the land. 

We cannot even glance at these observances, 
without perceiving how strikingly they set forth the 
office and work of the Redeemer, and the manner 
in which His Gospel was introduced to the world. 
In the arrangements of that Better Covenant, under 
which it is our happiness to live, Christ is at once 
the offering High Priest, and the atoning Victim. 
" By II is own blood, He has entered into the Holy 
Place 4 , having obtained eternal redemption for us." 
And when on the cross He bowed His head, and 
cried, "It is finished," He proclaimed to the uni- 
verse that the mighty struggle between wrath and 
mercy was past, and the curse due to transgression 
forever removed. 

It is not unimportant to notice here, that the 
period at which our Lord suffered, was the very 
year, and the v^vy time of the year, assigned for 
the opening of the Jubilee; a circumstance which 
clearly shows that this institution had been intended 
to shadow forth that long-expected era, when the 1 
"High Priest of our profession," haying made an 
end of sin by the one offering of Himself, should 



THE YEAR-SABBATH. 59 

enter into the invisible Sanctuary of Heaven, into 
the presence of His Father and our Father, there to 
exhibit the memorials of His sacrifice, and plead for 
the pardon of an apostate race. On the day of 
Pentecost, He came forth from the secret shsine of 
His glory, and in the gift of the Holy Spirit 
bestowed His blessing on the people. And then 
His Apostles took up the trumpet of the Gospel, 
and began to sound that spiritual Jubilee, whose 
publication shall never cease, till the triumphs of 
mercy are complete, and the song of salvation shall 
ascend from a ransomed world. 

How emphatically do the facts which have been 
described indicate the absolute necessity of the expi- 
atory work of the Mediator, in order to prepare the 
way for the promulgation of pardon and peace. As 
the Jubilee could be proclaimed only on the Day of 
Atonement, and as it could be ushered in only by 
sacrifice and intercession ; so the glad tidings of 
redemption could never have been announced to 
men, had not Christ died for our offences, and risen 
again for our justification. The whole testimony of 
Inspiration declares this to be an immutable law of 
the Divine procedure. To cherish any hope of sal- 
vation apart from the atoning merits of Jesus, is to 
contravene the fixed appointment of the All-Gov- 
ernor. Had not the blood of the great Propitia- 
tion been carried into the presence of Eternal 



60 BIBLE PICTURES. 

Majesty, the gates of Mercy would have remained 
forever closed. Before the awful veil that shut 
them out from God, the multitude must have waited 
unblessed. Xo trumpet peal of deliverance could 
have broken upon this world of sin and woe. Every 
voice would have been silent, every hope withered, 
every human being abandoned to condemnation ; 
and over the whole sphere of mortality Death and 
Despair would have reigned without limit and with- 
out end. But the Sacrifice has been offered. The 
Intercession has prevailed. The Blessing has been 
spoken. The year of Jubilee has come ; and on 
every side the heralds announce its arrival, and 
summon the outcast children of earth to share the 
immunities which it brings. 

The great Year-Sabbath carried with it many 
important advantages and benefits, that belonged to 
no other period ; and it is interesting to observe 
how accurately they all symbolized the blessings 
conferred b} r thc redemptive work of our Emmanuel. 

One of these was the universal extinction of debt. 
The Hebrew code ordained that at every seventh 
year, and at every fiftieth, the creditor should freely 
relinquish all pecuniary claims against a brother 
Israelite. The operation of this beneficent law must 
have brought to vast numbers unspeakable relief. 
Debt! How oppressive is its burden! How keen 
the anguish which it inflicts 1 What corroding care 



THE TEAR-SABBATH. 61 

and fear, what painful humiliation, must weigh clown 
the man who, with any feeling of independence and 
self-respect, finds himself struggling under obliga- 
tions which he has no power to throw off! This 
experience, so common and so bitter in our own 
times, was little less common, and none the less 
bitter, in the days of old. Human nature changes 
not its instincts with the changing ages, nor with 
difference of country and of occupation. To the 
Hebrew, tilling his few mountain acres, or tending 
his scanty flock of sheep and goats, thirty centuries 
ago, the fetters of pecuniary embarrassment were as 
galling as they now are to the merchant prince whose 
ships traverse every sea, and whose warehouses 
groan with their fulness. Perhaps his habits of life, 
and the intense love of freedom which they fostered, 
rendered him even more sensitive to the pain of 
such circumstances than any one can be in our more 
artificial civilization. 

Let us, then, go back in thought to the time of 
Samuel or of David, and, mingling in the home life 
of the Tribes, watch the working of this ordinance 
in a state of society so simple and natural. Here is 
a man who has inherited from his ancestors a narrow 
strip of land on the rocky slopes of Mount Ephraim. 
He cultivates a small vineyard on the hillside, sows 
a few patches of wheat and barley, and has a few 
cows and bullocks grazing in his little meadow. 



62 BIBLE PICTURES. 

With health, and good seasons, he could supply 
the modest wants of his household, and escape the 
necessity of debt. But calamities have befallen 
him. For several years, the harvests have been 
unfavorable. Hot, rainless summers have dried 
up his fields, and withered their products. Winds 
and tempests have destroyed the fruit of his vines. 
Accidents and distempers have ravaged his herds. 
And to these disappointments severe domestic afflic- 
tion has been added. Sickness has invaded his 
home, prostrated his own strength, and borne some 
of his loved ones to the grave. Under the pressure 
of his needs, he has been compelled to contract 
debts, hoping that more auspicious da} T s would 
enable him to discharge them. But those days 
come not. His creditors grow stern and exacting, 
demand immediate payment, and threaten to eject 
him from his heritage, cast him into prison, and sell 
his children into slavery. Still he struggles on. It 
is hard to leave the spot where he was born, where 
his fathers dwelt, where his kindred lie buried — 
hard to see his family houseless, and himself an 
outcast. Yet, toil as he may, he cannot master the 
difficulties that environ him. The incumbrance is 
too heavy ; the danger too near and too pressing. 
But just as he is on the point of giving up all 
further effort, and resigning himself to despair, the 
morning of the Jubilee breaks over the land. The 



THE YEAR-SABBATH. 63 

joyful acclamations, that welcome its coming, swell 
out on the air, and reach him among the hills. 
Blessed sounds are they to him ! They tell him 
that his trials are ended, his home secure ; and that, 
by the benign decree of Israel's God, he may now 
go forth to his daily labor, safe from the peril that 
has menaced him so long. 

Go with me to the debtor's jail in Jerusalem, and 
look at another on whom adversity has dealt blows 
still more terrible. Liable to claims which he could 
not meet, he was stripped of all that he possessed. 
There was no kinsman rich enough, or generous 
enough, to redeem his property, or become surety 
for his person ; and his creditors, having the power, 
shut him up in prison. Many years have passed 
since then. He was brought here a young man, 
strong and active ; he is now old, white-haired, and 
feeble. During all the dreary interval that he has 
languished in confinement, no word of sympathy 
has met his ear, no voice of friend or relative 
cheered his solitude. His wife, crushed down by 
sorrow, died long ago. His children are scattered, 
he knows not where. Whether they still live, or 
have followed their mother to the realm of silence, 
no tidings have come to tell him. In his lonsr 
exclusion from the outer world, his former life 
appears to him like a dream — a dim, far-off light, 
which he can faintly descry across the wide, inter- 



BIBLE I! 

veiling expanse of darkness. He I 11 reck- 

oning of time — has forgotten to note tfa 

rily by him — forgotten that 
the hour of deliverance is drawing nigh. The 
of Atonement dawns in the he: " qs, 1 at he ki. 
it not. The sounds of gladness and rejoicing that 

- arrival, arrest not his attention. He 1: 
the loud trumpets proclaiming th ibbath, 

without any thought of their meaning. The door 
of b is thrown open ; he is told that the Jubi- 

from his bod of straw, he looks round amazed and 

The truth at last flashes upon him ; and 

with a low, trembling f thank-. _ g - 

forth to tread the green earth once mor- the 

breath g . and exult in the bright 

sky. 
Call to mind how many aes, 
now supposed, ther have been in Israel at 

each recurr of Release, and you will 

be able to form some conception of the 1 
connected with th;; Nor 

fail to and beauty the 

ire which we have the 

e of the (; 

iritual condition under the tigur. 
indebted as. W - ten 

thousand talents, and havi; 



THE YEAR-SABBATH. 65 

our numerous and aggravated sins, we have come 
under tremendous liabilities to the justice of God, 
and have incurred an amount of obligation which 
no human arithmetic can compute, and no human 
efforts can liquidate. Judgment has been entered 
against us in the court of Heaven, execution issued ; 
and the stern messenger, Death, only waits the 
Divine signal to bear us away to the dungeons of 
Hell. But in this fearful exigency, the Saviour has 
interposed for our rescue. By faith in His atoning 
sacrifice, our mighty debt is cancelled ; the utter- 
most farthing is paid ; the demands of the law are 
satisfied : and through the suretyship of Him who 
died for us, we stand exonerated before the tribunal 
of Infinite Holiness. "By Kim all that believe are 
justified from all things." " He hath forgiven us 
all trespasses ; blotting out the handwriting of ordi- 
nances that was against us, that was contrary to us, 
and took it out of the way, nailing it to His Cross." 
Who can measure the depth of mercy involved in 
this free remission of our sins ? TVhat rich thing, 
or costly thing, is there in all the world, that can 
equal its preciousness? To be forgiven by Him 
who might have held us to a strict account ; to be 
absolved by Him who might have condemned us ; 
to hear that very Voice, which might have thun- 
dered forth the inflexible demand, "Pay me what 
thou owest," speak to us in the melting accents of 



66 BIBLE PICTURES. 

compassion, " Thy sins, which are many, are all for- 
given thee " — what thought can conceive, what 
words express, the value of a blessing like this? 
Oh, what a burden is lifted from the soul, when it 
receives the grace that acquits it for eternity ! And 
this grace is proffered to all who will come to the 
altar of Propitiation, and plead the merits of the 
accepted Mediator. No debt can be too vast, no 
guilt too enormous, to be taken away by that 
"Blood of Jesus," which cleanseth from all sin. 
He is able to save to the uttermost them that come 
unto God by Him. 

In the Year-Sabbath there was an end of bondage. 
Among the Jews, as well as among other oriental 
nations, the personal services of an insolvent debtor, 
and those of his children, were often sold to meet 
the claims which he was otherwise unable to pay. 
Other causes also frequently led to a loss of free- 
dom ; so that many were in the condition of bond- 
men. Hebrew slavery, though of the mildest form, 
was slavery still, and subjected its victims to much 
privation and hardship. For such cases, the insti- 
tution of the Jubilee contained a most benevolent 
provision. Liberty was then proclaimed throughout 
all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof; and 
every Israelite who had been reduced to servitude, 
was released, and sent back to his own family, and 
to the possession of bis fathers. 



THE YEAR-SABBATH. 67 

Transport yourself to the age and to the theatre 
of this law, and mark the going forth of its merciful 
power. See that slave delving and sweltering in 
the hot cane-fields of Jericho ; condemned to toil 
through the long summer day under a burning sun, 
without rest, and without reward. His childhood 
was passed on the breezy heights of Carmel, among 
bosky glades, babbling brooks, the singing of birds, 
and the odor of flowers. There he grew up, a bold, 
free-hearted youth, erect and tall, with an eye keen 
as the falcon's, and a foot fleet as the roe which he 
chased on the mountain side. But misfortune, 
swifter still, overtook him. A ruthless claimant, 
to whom his parents were indebted, seized him, and 
doomed him to bondage. He was torn from the 
haunts which he loved, from father and mother, 
from brothers and sisters, from the maiden to whom 
he was betrothed — never to see them more. Since 
that mournful day, he has served many masters, 
and lived in many places, but always a stranger, 
always homeless, with nothing that he could call his* 
own but his woes. Look at him now. Slavery 
has bowed his strong frame, and stiffened his 
elastic limbs, and on the brow, once so joyous, sits 
hopeless gloom. As he bends to his task, what sad 
memories are busy within him ! He thinks of the 
dear ones far away — of his happy boyhood — of all 
that he might have been — of the hard lot that has 



68 BIBLE PICTURES. 

been his instead — and tears, bitter tears, are on his 
bronzed cheek. But while he thus muses aud 
weeps, his ear catches the distant note of a trumpet. 
Now it is nearer, louder. It comes rolling down 
the gorges of the wilderness in the way toward 
Jerusalem, bounding from cliff to cliff, and pouring 
its jocund waves upon the plain below. Others 
take up the strain, and send it from wall and house- 
top, from crag and valley, till the very air seems 
alive with it. For a moment he listens uncertain; 
then shouting, "The Jubilee, the Jubilee!" tears 
off the badge of his servitude — stands up a freeman 
— and with the stride of a giant, journeys back to 
the scenes where his heart has ever been. 

The inauguration of the Year-Sabbath was thus, 
to myriads in Israel, the starting-point of a new life. 
AVe have just seen, in our own land, the chains of 
enslaved millions burst asunder, and the curse of 
bondage lifted from a whole race. And though the 
emancipation has sprung, not from the calm bosoni 
of Philanthropy, but from the black womb of Civil 
War — born in battle, and baptized in the blood of 
our sons and brothers — yet we have rejoiced in it, 
and have rightly hailed it as a most wonderful 
development of that overruling Providence, which 
" out of secihing evil still educes good." Shall we 
not, then, acknowledge both the wisdom and the 
benevolence of that statute of the Almighty which, 



THE YEAR-SABBATH. G9 

not with the rush of contending armies, but by the 
peaceful majesty of organic law, broke every 
shackle, and let the oppressed go free? And, 
especially, must we not recognize in it a most 
expressive emblem of the silent yet resistless 
energy with which our Divine Liberator strikes 
from us the darker tyranny of Evil? 

By nature, we are all the subjects of a moral 
thraldom as grinding as it is criminal. We are the 
slaves of our own depravity, " sold under sin," and 
"led captive by the Devil at his will." But the 
Cross of Christ touches our chains, and they are 
shivered into fragments ; His grace rends the serf- 
livery from our spirits, and we walk forth in the 
joy of a blessed emancipation. The freedom which 
the Gospel gives, consists in deliverance from the 
condemning sentence of Heaven's law, and from the 
despotism of our own corruptions ; in the renewal 
and sanctification of our hearts ; in breaking our 
affections away from sense and earthliness, and 
raising them to eternal things ; in the possession of 
high spiritual privileges and immunities ; in admis- 
sion to fellowship with God ; and in the hope of a 
blissful immortality. This is the liberty with which 
Christ makes His people free — this the glorious 
manumission of the sons of God. We venerate 
civil liberty, and deem it the fairest flower that can 
grow on the soil of nations ; and the spots where 



70 BIBLE PICTURES. 

heroes have planted that flower, sheltered it by their 
might, and watered it with their blood, are to us 
holy shrines, whither our hearts ever turn in rever- 
ence and worship. But what is the noblest enfran- 
chisement which patriotism in its grandest outgoings 
has wrought, compared with that which our Re- 
deemer achieved for us on the battle-ground of Cal- 
vary, amid groans, and agonies, and streaming gore? 
Political freedom can reach only the body, and is in 
its very nature precarious and uncertain, liable to 
be overthrown by invasion or anarchy, and changing 
with the ceaseless change of all terrestrial things. 
But here is liberty for the soul — liberty which no 
enemy can destroy — liberty which will survive the 
shocks and revolutions of ages — liberty which con- 
fers on all who receive it the rights and franchises 
of citizens of heaven, and crowns them with the 
heritage of glory. 

" lie is the free man whom the truth makes free, 
Ami all are slaves besides." 

The Jubilee brought with it the restoration of 
property. At its coming, possessions which had 
been alienated by reason of debt or other unfortu- 
nate circumstances, reverted to their original own- 
ers. As we glance over the brief record of this 
arrangement in the Sacred Volume, its importance 
may not awaken particular attention. But let us 



THE YEAR-SABBATH. 71 

pause for a moment, and consider the vast amount 
of happiness which it must have produced. Picture 
to yourselves an Israelite, thrust out by adversity 
from the inheritance of his ancestors. He has strug- 
gled hard to keep the old home ; but losses have 
fallen heavily upon him, and he must depart. The 
roof beneath which he was born, the streams by 
which he has walked, the fields he has tilled, the 
trees in whose shade he has reclined, the graves 
where his fathers sleep, all must be left, and left, 
alas ! in the keeping of strangers. He casts one 
long, farewell look on the scene which he loves so 
well, and then, with wife and little ones, goes forth 
an exile. Years pass on. Farther and farther he 
wanders, finding no resting-place, and "dragging at 
each remove a lengthening chain." But, hark! a 
trumpet-blast breaks upon the air. It is caught 
up and repeated from city and hamlet, from hill-top 
and glen, from highways and byways, till the whole 
land rings with the joyous echo. The wanderer 
hears it. His heart knows and feels it. It is the 
Jubilee signal. Oh, with what rapture does he now 
hasten back to the home once more his own ! Old 
friends greet his return ; old familiar faces smile 
upon him; hands that he grasped in youth now 
grasp his in happy welcome. The clays of his exile 
are over. He is among his kindred again. Again 
he dwells where his fathers dwelt ; again he sits 



72 BIBLE PICTURES. 

under the vines and olives which they planted ; 
again he tills the fields which they tilled, sowing 
where they sowed, reaping where they reaped, till 
he is laid by their side in the sepulchre. Thousands 
of such instances must have occurred in Palestine 
on every return of the Sacred Year. In all direc- 
tions, similar groups might be seen hurrying, with 
(waiting steps, to take possession of the homes from 
which poverty and reverses had ejected them. Oh, 
what a thrill of gladness must that event have sent 
through the land! 

And what an image is there here of our own 
restoration by the Gospel to the heritage which Ave 
have lost ! Our condition, as fallen creatures, 
resembles that of the beggared Jew, driven out 
from his birthright. Our sins have stripped us of 
our all. The original holiness of our nature, the 
likeness and favor of God, our kindred with angels, 
our title to a blessed immortality, are gone, and 
gone beyond our power to recover. But the mercy 
of God has provided for us a Jubilee. By believ- 
ing in His Only-Begotten Son, we receive back, 
aye, more than receive back, our alienated inher- 
itance. AYc are again invested with a glorious prop- 
erty, and made rich with a wealth which empires 
could not bestow. We arc not, indeed, permitted 
to return to the of earth's pristine beauty — 

to bask in tin- sunshine of Eden Restored — breath- 



THE YEAR-SABBATH, 73 

ing its fragrant airs, canopied by a sky that knows 
no cloud, conversing with angels, and listening to 
the voice of God. Our possessions lie not in this 
mortal sphere. Would you learn what they are? 
Unroll the charter, and read, "Unto us are given 
exceeding great and precious promises." We are 
"heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ." We 
are " begotten again, by the resurrection of Christ 
from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, unde- 
filed, and that fadeth not away." '"All things are 
yours, w r hether life, or death, or things present, or 
things to come ; all are yours ; and ye are Christ's, 
and Christ is God's." Such is the. property which 
faith in Jesus confers on us ; such the unsearchable 
riches with which man, once outcast and destitute, 
is endowed by the free mercy of the Gospel — riches 
w T hich dignify and bless him forever. 

The Year-Sabbath was intended to be a season of 
harmony and repose. During its continuance, the 
land was to rest, the implements of husbandry to be 
put away, and labor to cease, that social intercourse 
and kindly feeling might be cultivated without re- 
straint. There was to be no strife, no oppression ; 
all disputes were to be laid aside, all contentions 
abandoned ; and society, in every rank, was to pre- 
sent one unbroken scene of brotherhood and peace. 

How beautifully does this feature of the Sacred 
Year prefigure the results which Christianity con- 
7 



74 BIBLE PICTURES. 

templates. Its design is to impart to all who truly 
embrace it, a peace which comes from heaven, and 
is the earnest of heaven ; and then to unite them to 
each other in one harmonious and holy fraternity. 
All its elements, all its tendencies, are those of 
union and love. It represents the redeemed of all 
ages and countries as forming one Body, animated 
by one Spirit, having "one Lord, one Faith, one 
Baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above 
all, and through all, and in all." And this glorious 
ideal, once realized in the infancy of the Church, 
shall be realized again in her consummated maturity. 
The day, of which prophecy has so sweetly sung, is 
rapidly drawing on, when the Gospel in its purity 
shall be universally diffused, breathing Avherever it 
comes concord and peace. Standing together on 
the platform of primitive Truth, the watchmen 
of Zion shall see eye to eye, and all her children be 
of one heart and of one mind. Error shall be ban- 
ished from her borders, and theologic hate and sec- 
tarian division distract her no more. Throughout 
all her branches, in every clime, and under all forms 
of social development, she shall be inspired by one 
soul, and actuated by one purpose — the glory of 
her Master, and the welfare of the human race. 

And as there shall be peace in the Church, so 
shall there be peace every where — peace iu the 
home, peace in the neighborhood, peace among 



THE YEARS ABB ATH. 75 

nations, peace throughout the world. Mankind 
shall become one great family. Public and private 
animosities, the jar of conflicting interests, the oppo- 
sition of classes, the insolence of the rich, the over- 
bearing of the strong, shall be remembered only 
to excite wonder that they could ever have been. 
Every chain shall be broken. War shall be a for- 
gotten trade. The thunder of artillery, and the 
uproar of battle, shall be exchanged for the hum of 
industry and the bustle of traffic. Arsenals shall 
be converted iuto school-houses ; battle-fields into 
sheep-walks. Cannon shall be melted into railroad 
iron, swords beaten into ploughshares, muskets into 
telegraph wire, bayonets into spinning needles. 
Soldiers, like the Man-eaters of old, will become an 
extinct species ; and through all the wide expanse 
of society, there will be none to hurt or destroy ; 
"for the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the 
earth as the waters cover the sea." Then will be 
the Jubilee of the Creation, the great Sabbath of 
the world. Over the face of humanity, long 
agitated by wrong, and struggle, and sin, shall 
come a holy calm ; like the quiet of a still even- 
tide after the turmoil of a tempestuous day, when 
the winds have gone down, and the clouds dis- 
appear, and the blue sky breaks forth, and the set- 
ting sun sprinkles gold over the smiling land and 
the sleeping waters. And this universal peace on 



76 BIBLE PICTURES. 

earth will be the prelude of everlasting peace in 
heaven. 

One more evangelic analog}' of the Year-Sabbath 
may be traced in the extent and fulness given to its 
proclamation. " Ye shall make the trumpet sound 
throughout all your land." The manner in which 
this was done, was very interesting and suggestive. 
As the time for proclaiming the Jubilee drew on, a 
company of priests was stationed at the door of the 
Tabernacle or Temple, each with a silver trumpet 
in his hand. The Levites in the cities and towns, 
and every householder in the nation, were also fur- 
nished with silver trumpets. When the hour had 
arrived, the company of priests sounded the ap- 
pointed signal. Those in their immediate neigh- 
borhood repeated it. It was answered by the 
Levites and the inhabitants of the next town. And 
thus it was sent on from dwelling to dwelling, from 
city to city, from mountain to mountain, from tribe 
to tribe, till the farthest borders of the land echoed 
and reechoed with the glad music. 

The sounding of the silver trumpets was unques- 
tionably a .symbol of the proclamation of the Gospel. 
The ministers of Christ are commanded to publish 
redemption by His blood, and to invite the disinher- 
ited and the ruined to return to their Father's house. 
And in the work of spreading this message all the 
people of God arc to bear part. The tidings of 



THE YEAR-SABBATH. 77 

mercy announced by the priests and Levites, are to 
be taken up by private Christians, and carried out 
into all the walks of life. At the fireside, in the 
Sabbath-School class, in the social circle, in the 
resorts of business, the trumpet is to be sounded. 
Neighbor should sound it to neighbor, village to 
village, city to city, land to land, until the most 
distant and secluded spot on the globe has been 
penetrated by the joyful summons. And the hour 
is at hand when this blessed consummation shall 
be realized. The purposes of God, revealed in 
His word, assure us that the trumpet of the Chris- 
tian Jubilee shall be heard through all nations, 
reverberating from empire to empire, from conti- 
nent to continent, from hemisphere to hemisphere 
— wherever man is to be enlightened and saved. 
The Greenlander shall hear it amid his everlasting 
snows, and his heart shall grow warm at the sound. 
The down-trodden masses of Europe shall hear it, 
and shall rise up from under their burdens, and stand 
forth free in Christ. The thralls of Popery shall 
hear it, and shall hurl down " the Man of Sin," and 
trample on the shackles with which he has so long 
bound them. Our own Continent shall hear it, re- 
sounding from the icy homes of the Esquimaux, to 
the sunny glades of Mexico ; from the populous 
commonwealths of the Atlantic, to the young settle- 
ments on the shores of the Pacific. The vast regions 

7* 



78 BIBLE PICTURES. 

of Spanish America shall hear it, echoing from the 
peaks of the Andes, swelling over the mighty plains 
of the Amazon, and floating far away under the beams 
of the Southern Cross. The millions of Asia shall 
hear it, and emerge from their darkness and degrada- 
tion into the lisfht of salvation. The African shall 
hear it, amid the foul orgies of his Fetish-worship, 
and shall put off his savage nature, and stand up in 
the dignity of a civilized and Christian man. Every 
island that gems the ocean shall hear it, and put on 
a richer loveliness. And "they that go down to 
the sea in ships, and do business in the great waters," 
shall hear it, min^lins: with the watch-bells, and send- 
ing its cheering notes far out over the listening main. 
Farther and faster shall spread the call, sweeter 
and louder shall grow the strain, till the whole 
earth shall be redeemed, and the voice of an eman- 
cipated world shall send up one universal hymn of 
praise to its Maker and Restorer. Who will not 
speed it on and on ? Who will not put the trumpet 
to his lips, and sound and prolong the blast, till, 
like the walls of Jericho, every barrier shall fall, 
and the human race shall bow to the sceptre of the 
Prince of Peace ? 

Disciples of Jesus ! Followers of Him who gave 
His life a ransom for the lost ! behold the work 
which He appoints you. He has redeemed you 



THE TEAR-SABBATH. 79 

from guilt and ruin, and made you partakers of His 
salvation, that you might be witnesses of that salva- 
tion to the darkling and perishing. Fulfil His high 
behest. Publish, at home and abroad, the story 
of His Cross. Spread it through the length and 
breadth of your own land. Cause it to sound forth, 
as in other days, from the old sanctuaries among 
the mountains, where its last feeble echoes are now 
sinking into the silence of desolation. Tell it along 
the valleys, and by the rivers, where Trade and In- 
dustry have fixed their busy centres ; and let its 
heavenly utterances swell out full and clear, above 
the noise of mundane toil, the clatter of the wheel, 
and the whirr of the spindle. Over the teeming 
West, over the war- wasted South, pour its life- 
giving truths, dispelling the moral gloom that 
shadows the one, and the Devil's Gospel that has 
dominated the other. To every clime and race 
make known the saving message ; and join the 
chorus of the Church universal in bearing the Name 
of the Crucified over all the earth. 

Angel of the Apocalyptic Vision ! whom the rapt 
prophet of Patmos beheld flying through the midst 
of heaven, having the everlasting Gospel to preach 
to all the kindreds of men — hasten thy glorious 
flight. Peal out, O Trumpet of Redemption ! 
along our storm-swept skies, ringing over land and 



80 BIBLE PICTURES. 

sea, proclaiming the end of sin, the end of travail, 
and heralding the birth of the new spiritual creation 
in which dwelleth righteousness. 

" Ring out the old, ring in the new, 
Ring out the false, ring in the true ; 
Ring out the acres dark and base, 
Ring in the ages crowned with grace. 

" Ring out the want, the woe, the crime, 
The wroftg and falsehood of the time, 
The chains that hang on limb and mind; 
Ring in redress to all mankind. 

" Ring out the waning power of night, 
Ring in the coming reign of light, 
Ring in the world's long Jubilee, 
Bins in the Christ that is to be." 




CHAPTER IV. 

THE WEAK HOUE OF ELIJAH. 

What doest thou here, Elijah?"— 1 Kings xix. 13. 

STRONG internal evidence of the Divine 
inspiration of the Bible may be drawn from 
the manner in which it describes the charac- 
ters of good men. Were it a mere human 
production, its authors would doubtless have 
sought to give it credibility, by attributing the 
utmost excellence to the worthies whose lives they 
recorded. All their portraits of saints and prophets 
would have represented them as perfect without a 
fault, and immaculate without a stain. And this 
they would have done, lest the sins and failings of 
the persons whom they exhibited as the faithful 
servants of Jehovah should be employed as an argu- 
ment against the truth of their system. 

But how widely different is the method of Scrip- 
ture ! In its narratives of the righteous, it deline- 
ates them as indeed the friends of God, walking in 
His fear, and supremely devoted to His will. Yet, 
at the same time, it sets forth, with the most entire 
impartiality and truthfulness, their defects as well 

81 



82 BIBLE PICTURES, 

f 

as their virtues, and claims for them no exemption 
from the infirmities to which humanity is subject. 
Thus it evinces its harmony with facts, and with 
universal experience ; and furnishes a clear proof 
of its origin from that infinite Being who is per- 
fectly acquainted with the frailty of our nature, 
even after it has been renewed by His grace, and 
who knows that " there is not a just man upon earth, 
that doeth good, and sinneth not." 

An instance illustrative of these remarks is pre- 
sented to us in the history of the prophet Elijah. 
The Sacred Writers have portrayed few characters 
more distinguished for pure and lofty qualities. He 
was evidently a man of the most fervid zeal, of 
vast energy, of indomitable courage and constancy ; 
displaying on all occasions an absorbing concern for 
the honor of God, and the interests of true religion. 

The period in which he lived was one of great 
darkness and moral degeneracy. Ahab, the most 
wicked of Israel's kings, and Jezebel, his still more 
wicked queen — the daughter of a pagan prince, 
and herself a pagan — had employed all their royal 
power and authority to introduce and establish 
among their subjects the idolatrous worship of Baal. 
In this impious attempt they were but too successful. 
Almost the whole mass of the nation was corrupted 
by their influence ; and the ordinances of Jehovah 
were well-nigh banished from the land. 



THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 83 

Amidst this wide and deep apostasy, Elijah was 
called by God to lift up his voice of awful rebuke 
and warning. He uttered many predictions, all of 
which were strikingly fulfilled, and wrought numer- 
ous miracles in proof of his inspired commission. 
Instructed from on high, he caused all Israel to be 
gathered together at Mount Carmel, and summoned 
thither the priests of Baal whom Jezebel supported, 
in order that the pretensions of their deity to divine 
honors might be tested in the presence of the assem- 
bled people. And the method of decision which 
he suggested was so manifestly just, that his oppo- 
nents could not decline it. Baal was held by his 
votaries to represent the element of fire, which they 
regarded as the principle and origin of life, and 
supposed to reside in the sun. His worship was 
thus a form of the Sun-Worship then so dominant 
throughout the East. When, therefore, the prophet 
proposed that two altars should be prepared — one 
for Baal, one for Jehovah — a slain bullock placed 
on each, but no fire applied; and that the God, 
who answered by sending fire to consume his own 
sacrifice, should alone be acknowledged as the true 
God — all assented to the fairness of the test. It 
was proving Baal on his own ground, and by his 
own element. 

In this trial Gocl signally sustained His servant, 
and vindicated His own claims to supreme homage. 



84 BIBLE PICTURES. 

While no miraculous flame descended on the altar 
of Baal, notwithstanding the protracted importuni- 
ties and self-lacerations of his priests, on the altar 
of Jehovah which Elijah had reared, the fire of the 
Lord fell, consuming the burnt sacrifice, and the 
wood and the stones on which it was laid, and even 
the very dust, and licking up the water that had 
been poured profusely over all, to render the event 
more clear and significant. Awed and convinced by 
this overwhelming manifestation of Divine power, 
the people fell on their faces, and exclaimed, "The 
Lord, He is the God, the Lord, He is the God." 
And then the prophet, fired with holy indignation, 
commanded all the priests of Baal to be seized, 
before the very face of the apostate king who had 
been their protector; and bringing them down to 
the brook Kishon, slew them there, in obedience to 
that statute of the Almighty which required that 
they who taught or practised idolatry should be put 
to death. 

Now, it might well be supposed that the man 
who had dared all this, and who had witnessed such 
an amazing proof of God's presence and support, 
would never more quail before the frown of opposi- 
tion, or the menace of infuriated wickedness. And 
3'et what strange inconsistencies — what moments 
of weakness and defection — do the stanchest 
champions of truth and holiness sometimes exhibit ! 



THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 85 

When Jezebel heard what Elijah had done to her 
impious priests, she sent him a message, swearing 
by all her false gods to visit the same fate on him- 
self before another day should close ; and this heroic 
soldier of Heaven, this brave defender of the true 
religion, fresh from the field of victory, was fright- 
ened by the threat of a woman, who was then as 
powerless as she was base. Amid the clearest evi- 
dences of success — in the very hour of his most 
signal triumph — a feeling of faintness and of fear 
came over him, obscuring his faith, weakening his 
strength, and chilling the ardor of his courage. 
Under the impulse of this sudden and paralyzing 
terror, he 'abandoned the struggle with ungodliness, 
withdrew from the scene of conflict, and sought a 
hiding place for his life in the remote depths of the 
wilderness. How strong and overmastering must 
have been that onset of despondency, which could 
thus vanquish one habitually so bold, uncompromis- 
ing, and faithful ! 

But God does not forsake His servants, even 
when in seasons of doubt and gloom they seem to 
forsake Him, and to give over their activity in His 
cause. As the weary prophet lay and slept under 
the shade of a juniper tree, it was not from its fruit, 
nor from the cool screen of its foliage, that refresh- 
ment came to him. An angel touched him, and 
showing him a cake baked on the coals, and a cruse 

8 



86 BIBLE PICTrXES. 

of water at bis head, said to Lira, "Arise, and 
eat.*' A second time the celestial visitor appeared ; 
arid a second time was the miraculous food dispensed. 
So the Christain. cast down in spirit, and faltering 
id the battle with inward and with outward foes, 
often sinks into slumber beneath some earthly ref- 
uge, and hopes for rest in its shadow. But not in 
carnal resorts can he find true comfort. If any real 
support reaches his fainting soul, unseen hands from 
heaven minister it. Some glimpse of a promise 
Hashing through the darkness — some drop from 
the Uiver of Life falling on his parched lips — 
cheers and revives him. Oh, how invigorating is 
even a little bread prepared by God's lire, and a 
little water dipped from God's fountain ! In the 
strength of that meat, Elijah went a long and toil- 
some journey, traversing, for forty days and nights, 
the wild gorges and rugged hills of Judea. and the 
vast stretches of the desert beyond, till he came to 
Horeb — the Mount of Divine Manifestation — 
where Jehovah talked with Moses, and proclaimed 
His law t«> Israel. 

Yet, however impelled by a m ase of need and 
dependence to seek the plan- where (rod had re- 
let! Himself of old. be was still in no frame of 
mind to address the Holy One, and invoke the 
succor of Omnipotence. He was too despondent 
to praj ; too full of earth-born tumult to venture 



THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 87 

on communion with Heaven. Shrinking from the 
Divine Presence, he withdrew to a cave in the 
mountain, and there, amid its sombre depths, found 
a congenial lodging. What a picture is here of the 
doubting and tempted believer ! Though his yearn- 
ing heart may bring him to the spot where the 
Father of Mercy has recorded His name, and Jesus 
waits to hear and bless, yet, instead of drawing near 
and speaking out his wants, he shuts himself up in 
the cavern of silence, and sits brooding in its gloom, 
dark, cold, and joyless. 

But when man is too despairing to speak to God, 
God speaks to man. "The word of the Lord came 
to Elijah, and said, What doest thou here? " Here, 
in this dumb, dismal hiding-place ? " Go forth, and 
stand on the mount before the Lord." Come out 
into the day and into the sunshine, and from the 
high ground of faith behold the glory of my power 
and of my grace. Obedient to the summons, the 
prophet ascended the eminence made sacred for all 
the ages by the footprints of Deity. There a most 
impressive display of the might and awfulness of 
Jehovah met his startled vision. "The Lord passed 
by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, 
and brake in pieces the rocks before the Lord ; but 
the Lord" — the Lord whose condescension could 
dispel his fears — " was not in the wind. And after 
the wind, there was an earthquake, but the Lord " 



88 BIBLE PICTURES. 

— the Lord whose faithfulness could remove his 
unbelief — " was not in the earthquake. And after 
the earthquake, came a fire; but the Lord" — the 
Lord whose love could melt his despair — " was not 
in the fire." These exhibitions of Almightiness, 
however they might awaken wonder and dread, 
could not touch his heart, and inspire affection and 
confidence. . They were forerunners and adumbra- 
tions of God — of God in His greatness and majesty ; 
but they bore no tokens of God in His benignity 
and tenderness. Another manifestation followed, 
showing the real character of God, and attesting 
His presence. While the prophet stood trembling 
and amazed at the spectacle which had just passed 
before him, there came to his ears " a still small 
Voice " — the Voice of the Ever-Good and the 
Ever-Merciful — repeating the question, " What 
docst thou here, Elijah?" Kindness and gentle 
reproof were mingled in its low, thrilling tones. 
It seemed to say to him, "What trial, what sore 
pressure of need, brings thee hither? I commanded 
thee to declare my statutes, to defend my worship, 
to preach repentance to a sinful land, and denounce 
my judgments on Ahab and his idolatrous court. 
Why hast thou left thy work ? Why art thou here ? " 
"And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he 
wrapped his face in his mantle," as an expression 
of his humility and adoring reverence. He who had 



THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 89 

looked, with awe indeed, yet with form erect, and 
brow uncovered, on the wind, the earthquake, and 
the fire, bent his veiled head in lowliest homage 
before those mild accents of a Father's rebuke and 
a Father's pity. As the soft breath of spring dis- 
solves the chains of winter, and sets free the impris- 
oned flowers, so did the sweet whisper of God's 
love break from his spirit the fetters of distrust, 
and unbind the outgoings of faith and prayer. His 
lips were now opened. In answer to the inquiry so 
touchingly addressed to him, he poured forth the 
secret sorrow of his soul, and laid down at the feet 
of Infinite Compassion the burden that oppressed 
him. " I have been very jealous for the Lord God 
of Hosts ; for the children of Israel have broken 
thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain 
thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, 
am left ; and they seek my life to take it away." 

The all-gracious One, the Captain of our* Salva- 
tion, our Defender and Upholder, never breaks the 
bruised reed, nor turns away from the cry of our 
infirmities. With divine sympathy, He consoles 
and strengthens His servant ; assures him that the 
prospects of true religion were not so desperate as 
they seemed ; that the reign of apostasy was not 
universal ; that there were still left seven thousand 
in Israel who had not bowed the knee to Baal ; that 
so far from standing alone, "faithful among the 

8* 



90 BIBLE PICTURES. 

faithless " multitudes thirsting for his blood, he had 
numerous companions and helpers ; that while the 
great, and the noble, and the time-serving had gone 
over to the prevailing idolatry, in many an obscure 
hamlet and lonely cottage hidden among the hills, 
might be found the friends of Abraham's God — 
homes in which His altars still stood — hearts in 
which His worship yet lingered ; and that, in His 
own ordained hour, the omnipotent Sovereign of 
heaven and earth would arise to deliver His people, 
overthrow His enemies, and establish His cause in 
triumph. Having by considerations like these invig- 
orated his faith, and restored his drooping courage, 
He commands him to return to the scene of conflict, 
and renew the fight tor God and truth. Comforts 
are sent down to us from Heaven only to prepare 
us to struggle more earnestly in the service of 
Heaven ; and whenever the words of the Lord bring 
hope autl peace to the soul, they are always accom- 
panied by the behest, " Go, return on thy way to 
the Wilderness " — to the trials there appointed — 
to the work there unfinished. 

Re-animated by communion with God, with what 
a bounding step the prophet goes back to the field 
of his former exploits ! Fearless and undaunted as 
if the fire of immortality were in his veins, and the 
strength of angels in his arra,*iic rushes to the en- 
counter. Follow him through all his after history. 



THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 91 

See him, with the light of the Holy Mount yet 
beaming on his brow, bearing aloft the standard of 
Jehovah into the thickest ranks of His foes ; main- 
taining His institutions ; vindicating His honor ; 
and proclaimiug His law in the very face of sceptred 
impiety and throned licentiousness. Amid the 
loudest din and uproar of the battle, he hears ever 
that "still small Voice," whispering hope, inspiring 
resolution ; and onward he marches — on through 
neglect and isolation — on through privation and 
want — on through toils and perils — on through 
environing hosts raging for his life — on, still on — 
never fleeing, never blenching more — till his task 
is done, and — overtaken not even by Death that 
has tracked him so long — " the .chariots of fire and 
the horses of fire " carry him up to his crown. 

This striking incident in the life of Elijah is full 
of instruction to the children of God in our own 
day. Though living under the better dispensation 
of the Gospel, and favored with its clearer reveal- 
ings of Divine grace and succor, they nevertheless 
experience similar trials of their faith, and pass not 
seldom through similar hours of faintness and de- 
jection. The power of the Present over the Future 
— of the Seen over the Unseen — has not been 
weakened by the lapse of centuries. Nor has the 
propensity of pious men to forget, in their moral 
conflicts, the promise of Almighty aid, been oblit- 



92 BIBLE PICTURES, 

erated by all the myriad instances in which the 
Christian ages have witnessed the fulfilment of 
that promise. Emphatic, therefore, and pertinent 
to ourselves, are the lessons which our narrative 
suggests. 

III the struggle with inward depravity, the be- 
liever is often tempted to despond. He looks into 
his own heart, and sees how corrupt it still is — 
how prone to unbelief and earthliness — how alive 
to all that is carnal — how dead to all that is spirit- 
ual, lie perceives that sinful thoughts and feelings 
spring up in his bosom spontaneously and with, ait 

rt ; while the conscious presence of holy affec- 
tions is painfully acquired by prayer, by vigilance, 
by I Lb 1 st whenever these appliances are 

withdrawn. He thinks how often and how sincerely 
he has endeavored to overcome this internal enemy 
— to conquer h: ting sins, subdue his uusanc- 

titied proclivities, and give the victory to the new 
nature within him : and yet. in almost every in- 

Dce, has found ' r the law in his members" warring 
isfully against "the law of his mind." and 
bringing him into captivity. And then the p 

loubt and apprehension creeps over him, chilling 
the enjoyments of piety, and benumbing its vital 

es. He fears, cither that he has no religion, or 
that his religion will die out and be utterly cxtin- 
guished amid the hostile element- that encom] 



THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 93 

it. And so he grows weary in the combat — ceases 
to pray, to watch, to wrestle — and retreats into 
the wilderness of apathy and inaction. 

But what doest thou here, Christian? Is this 
fighting the good fight of faith, to which thy Master 
calls thee ? Is this holding fast thy profession with- 
out wavering unto the end? In such a position, 
what canst thou achieve for God or for thy own 
soul ? Will supineness lessen the power of indwell- 
ing corruption? Is not this the very state of mind 
in which its dominion may be expected to become 
most complete and absolute? Wilt thou abandon 
the contest altogether, and no longer strive against 
the evil principles that would enthral thee, and hold 
thee back from heaven ? This is to surrender thy 
interest in Christ — to cast from thee the hope of 
glory. And this thou durst not do ; this the Spirit 
of Grace, that yet struggles in thy heart, will not 
let thee do. Oh, hasten to the Mount of God ! 
Betake thyself to prayer. At the Mercy-seat un- 
bosom thy spiritual distresses, pour out all thy 
anxieties. And, listen — through the "great and 
strong wind" of temptation, through "the earth- 
quake" of insurgent passion, through "the fire" of 
moral trial — comes to thee, distinct and clear, the 
" still small voice " of thy pitying Saviour, saying, 
"Fear not ; my grace is sufficient for thee." Armed 
with strength from on high, go back to the battle, 



94 BIBLE PICTURES. 

and never falter in it more. The victory is sure. 
In the name of thy prevailing Advocate and Inter- 
cessor, and by the effectual energy which He will 
ever supply, thou shalt trample down, one after 
another, the lusts that now war against thy peace. 
Unbelief and pride, carnality and worldliness, what- 
ever in thy heart or in thy life is not of Christ, 
shall be gradually weakened, overpowered, bound 
in chains. Every day a fresh triumph shall be won 
— every day some new trophy erected — until thy 
warfare is accomplished, and the last relic of de- 
pravity, like the mantle of Elijah, falls from thee in 
thy passage to glory. 

The Christian is not less exposed to discourage- 
ment in contending with the outward foes which 
constantly beset his pathway. Satan assaults him 
with all the weapons of craft and malice by which 
he labors to ruin the soul — plying him, at one time, 
with cunning devices, ensnaring suggestions, lures 
to entice, wiles to entrap, and, at another, with 
fiery darts, bitter accusations, open wrath. The 
world assaults him — now with the blandishments 
of riches, honor, and pleasure — now with con- 
tumely and scorn ; now attempting to seduce him 
from the way of holiness by smiles and promises, 
and now to drive him from it by hatred and oppo- 
sition. Under the combined attacks of these sleep- 
less antagonists, the child of God is often dismayed, 



THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 95 

and faint of heart. They throng around him, they 
press upon him, they threaten to tread him into the 
dust ; and, staggered and appalled by the violence 
and pertinacity of their onset, he is ready to ex- 
claim, "I shall surely fall by the hands of mine 
adversaries ! " 

But what, O trembling believer! doest thou 
here ? Is the race to the swift, or the battle to the 
strong? Go to the Mount of God, and there learn 
that more are they that are with thee than they that 
are against thee. On thy side is the omnipotence 
of the Father, the all-sufficiency of Christ, the ever- 
present help of the Spirit. What to these is the 
leagued array of earth and hell ? In the Love that 
redeemed thee, in the Grace that hath called thee, 
there are supplies for every need, resources for 
every emergency, weapons for every conflict. Clad 
in Heaven's own panoply — your loins girded with 
Truth — Eighteousness your breast-plate — your 
feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of 
peace — lifting on high the shield of Faith, wearing 
the helmet of Salvation, Prayer on your lips, and in 
your hand the all-conquering sword of the Spirit — 
why should you fear defeat, or shrink from the 
strife? God will bruise Satan under thy feet 
shortly. And this is the victory that overcometh 
the world, even thy faith. 

Similar misgivings not unfrequently come over us 



96 BIBLE PICTURES. 

in our efforts to build up the Redeemer's kingdom* 
We think how slowly His cause advances in the 
world — how numerous and seemingly invincible 
are the obstacles that oppose its progress. We 
contemplate the position and bearing of the Powers 
of Light and of Darkness as they confront each 
other. Under the banner of the one, we see but a 
small and scattered band, timid, irresolute, waver- 
ing — under the banner of the other a dense host, 
alert, bold, and confident. We look at the soldiers 
of Christ. Weak as they are in numbers, their 
divisions and their want of ardor weaken them still 
more. Many are straggling from the ranks — many 
loitering in the rear — few prepared and willing to 
take part in the struggle. We look at the cham- 
pions of ungodliness. They are countless, com- 
pact, eager for the fray. We see how difficult it is 
to make any impression on their serried lines — 
how wedded men are to their sins — how hard it is 
to bring even one over from the side of irreligion to 
the side of righteousness. From this view of the 
couflict as it is going forward in Christian lands, we 
look away to other climes, and see how God's little 
army is outflanked by the long array of false re- 
ligions covering with their mighty columns more 
than half the globe. And then a feeling of despond- 
ency settles upon us. We lose nerve and heart. 
We imagine that this terrible front of rebellion can 



THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 97 

never be broken — these myriad legions brought 
into subjection to the Prince of Peace — this world 
in arms against its Maker reclaimed to His sceptre. 
We are tempted, therefore, to give up an undertak- 
ing which seems to us to be hopeless ; to retire 
from all active share in the battle ; and let the 
impenitent crowds around us go down, if they will, 
to the perdition which they have chosen. 

But what do we here ? Is this a place for those 
who have sworn allegiance to Heaven? Is such 
pusillanimity worthy of men whose names are on 
the muster-roll of Christ, and who stand pledged 
to follow their Leader unto death ? Oh, let us go 
to the Mount of God, and hear that "still small 
voice" of promise say to us, "The gates of Hell 
shall not prevail." "As I live, the whole earth 
shall be filled with my glory." In the illuminations 
there received, in the comforts there bestowed, the 
film of doubt will be cleared from our eyes, aud 
assurance breathed into our souls. We shall see 
that, however wickedness may now appear to dom- 
inate the world, its final overthrow is certain ; that 
in the encounter of Right and Wrong, the former is 
sure to triumph at last ; and that all the movements 
of the Gospel, and all the ongoings of Providence, 
and all the heavings and tossings of the nations, are 
tending, irresistibly, inevitably, to usher in that 
predicted epoch, when the reign of the Crucified 



y« BIBLE PICTURES. 

shall be universal among men. The combat may 
be long and arduous. We may be summoned from 
the field while the turmoil is yet at its height. But 
others will come and stand in our places ; and the 
great battle of the Lord of Hosts will go on — on 
through generations and centuries — on over em- 
pires and continents — never receding, never rest- 
ing — on, ever on in its career of mercy, converting 
sinners, recovering the lost, lifting up the fallen, 
enlightening all that is dark, dispelling all that is 
false, sanctifying all that is impure, till wickedness 
shall be driven from the earth into the prison below, 
and God shall turn on it the key of His power, and 
lock it forever from the sight of His redeemed 
creation. 

Thus it is that the believer, in his visits to the 
Mount of Divine Manifestation, gathers new strength 
for the conflicts of the spiritual life, and fresh incen- 
tives to steadfastness and perseverance. And thus 
it is that difficulties and dangers which, out in the 
dusty arena of the strife, may seem to us insur- 
mountable, are shorn of all their terrors, when sur- 
veyed from the hallowed eminence of communion 
with Heaven. 

Oh, Mount of God! High Place of Prayer! 
Horeb of Faith ! on whose gleaming summit the 
soul stands and sends her gaze away to the Throne 
of Grace above — what words can speak the blessed- 



THE WEAK HOUR OF ELIJAH. 99 

ness of those who know thy refuge ! In thy sacred 
retreats God talks with man, and Jesus unveils His 
love, and the Comforter whispers consolation, and a 
gladness not of earth invigorates the soul. Shelter 
of Prophets ! Chosen Kesort of Saints in all the 
ages ! May we never forget thee — never leave 
untrodden the way that leads to thee. Worn with 
toil, hemmed round by foes, borne down under sor- 
rows, may we flee to thee for rest. And when our 
work is done, from thy sunlit brow may we soar 
upward to the Heavenly Hills, and dwell in the 
Mountain of the Lord forever. 



CHAPTER Y. 

THE TWO BUILDERS. 

"Therefore, -whosoever heareth these satings of mine, 
and doeth them, i will liken him unto a wise man, which 
built his house upon a rock. axd the rain descended, and 
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that 

HOUSE; AND IT FELL not; FOR IT WAS FOUNDED UPON A ROCK. 

And evert one that heareth these sayings of mine, and 
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which 
built his house upon the sand. and the rain descended, and 
the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that 
house; and it fell; and great was the fall of ft.— Matthew 
vii. 24-27. 

ITH these striking words our Lord con- 
eludes His memorable Sermon on the 
^ Mount. Having, in that matchless sum- 
mary, set forth the Gospel which He 
came to teach, declared its great truths, 
pointed out the breadth and spirituality of its pre- 
cepts, and unfolded the wealth of its promises and 
benedictions, He brings the whole to bear directly 
on the consciences of His hearers, by a personal 
application as appropriate as it is impressive and 
solemn. 

This application is contained in the passage which 
forms the groundwork of our present remarks. To 

100 




THE TWO BUILDERS. 101 

comprehend the significance and pertinency of the 
comparison which our Saviour here employs, it is 
necessary to place clearly before our minds the 
physical aspects of the country in which He dwelt, 
and the customs of the people to whom He spoke. 
Viewing it merely in the light of our own experi- 
ence, we might be inclined to pronounce it inap- 
posite, destitute of meaning, and at variance with 
actual facts. Were we to judge only from what is 
familiar to ourselves, there would seem to be little 
propriety in describing as wise the man who should 
build his house upon a rock, or in branding as fool- 
ish the man who should rear his upon the sand ; 
since, so far as our observation extends, no special 
safety is gained in the one case, and no special peril 
incurred in the other. But however true this may 
be in the scene of our abode, it was quite otherwise 
in that of Christ's earthly ministry. There, the 
formation of the land and the nature of the climate 
alike contributed to give point and emphasis to His 
illustration. The surface of Palestine is, for the 
most part, extremely rugged and uneven, broken 
up into steep cliffs and abrupt eminences, and inter- 
sected by narrow and precipitous ravines. In the 
summer, during which rain seldom falls, these ra- 
vines are the dry beds of torrents that have been 
exhausted by the long drought and the parching 
heat ; or if in any of them streams still flow, they 



102 BIBLE PICTURES. 

are reduced to tiny rills which the eye can scarcely 
see, and which a single step may cross. But when 
the winter storms set in, and the mighty rains de- 
scend on the heights, the waters, rushing down the 
mountain gorges, swell these rivulets into roaring 
floods, that carry terror and devastation in their 
track. 

It was from scenes of this description — scenes 
which His listeners had often beheld, and examples 
of which were doubtless visible from the spot where 
they stood — that our Divine Teacher drew the im- 
agery of the text. He introduces two individuals 
as proposing to erect dwellings for themselves in a 
locality such as I have described. It is the early 
summer ; and all is calm and peaceful. The sky 
is cloudless. The winds are silent, or only whisper 
in soft breezes that ripple the growing corn, and 
just stir the young leaves of the vine and olive. 
The rough slopes of the glen are covered with ver- 
dure and gay with flowers ; and along its pebbly 
bottom a little brook glides and siugs. There is 
nothing to indicate danger or suggest precaution. 
Yet one of these men, taking into account the haz- 
ards of the situation, and knowing how soon and how 
suddenly the deluge may come, adapts his measures 
to the circumstances, and carefully provides for 
what the future must bring. With thoughtful fore- 
sight, he selects for his foundation the smooth face 



THE TWO BUILDERS. 103 

of a rock which former inundations have laid bare : 
or. if no such site can be found, then — as stated in 
the parallel passage of Luke — he "digs deep n till 
he reaches the underlying rock: and there, on the 
solid granite, erects his home. The edifice thus 
supported, and built wholly of stone — as the houses 
of the Jews generally were — possesses a strength 
and stability that bid defiance to all the vicissitudes 
of the seasons. And this man the Redeemer pro- 
nounces " wise," because he rightly estimates the re- 
quirements of his undertaking, and shapes his plans 
and regulates his conduct in accordance with them. 
The other man., wanting in sagacity, or impelled 
by sheer recklessness, pursues a course that leads 
to widely different results. Deluded by present 
appearances, and fearing no evil to come because 
none is manifest now. he puts his house on a bed of 
drifting sand, which previous overflows have washed 
up along the border of the stream, and ventures 
all that he holds dear in its treacherous keeping. 
Christ calls him "a foolish man." inasmuch as. in 
a matter involving treasure and security and life 
itself, he ignores the exigencies that are sure to 
arise, and violates every law of prudence and fore- 
cast. And his folly is as inexcusable as it is gross. 
It does not spring from imperfect knowledge. Un- 
less he rejects all evidence, he cannot be unaware 
of the nature of the ground on which he builds, 



104 BIBLE PICTURES. 

and the severity of the test which his work must 
undergo. But indolence, self-will, pride of opinion, 
a propensity to overlook perils that are not immedi- 
ate, and. the insane hope, either that the threatened 
catastrophe will not occur, or that he shall find some 
way of escape, conspire to uphold his confidence, 
and to embolden him in his purpose. His fatuity 
is thus the product of presumption and fool-hardi- 
ness : and when the fearful end shall undeceive him, 
he can charge the loss and the ruin only to himself. 

For a time, however, all may seem to be well. 
While the season of fair weather and Bright skies 
continues, and halcyon days and starry nights follow 
each other in unbroken succession, the house on the 
sand may appear as safe as the house on the rock. 
And perhaps its owner ridicules the care and pains- 
taking of his neighbor — laughs at his anxiety about 
his foundation — and taunts him with a needless 
expenditure of means and labor in guarding against 
the inroads of an insignificant brook that is fast dry- 
ing up. And so the long rainless summer passes 
away, and the months of the freshet and the hurri- 
cane draw nigh. 

On a quiet evening, the inmates of both houses 
close their doors, and prepare for their wonted rest. 
They notice, as they retire, no unusual indications 
that danger is near ; for though autumnal blasts 
have begun to sweep, at intervals, down the hills, 



THE TWO BUILDERS, 105 

and to moan fitfully among the trees, the heavens 
are yet serene, and the earth tranquil. But at mid- 
night, a terrible change awakens them. The tem- 
pest is abroad in its wrath. They hear the wild 
winds howl and rage, and the fierce rain hurtling 
against roof and wall ; while, more appalling than 
either, breaks on their startled ears the roar of the 
swollen torrent pouring down the gorge, submerg- 
ing the lowlands, foaming up the hillsides, and 
becoming each moment deeper, swifter, more re- 
sistless. 

The storm assails both houses with equal violence. 
But it cannot shake the house on the rock. Fixed 
on its immovable foundation, it remains steadfast 
and secure amid the dashing waves and the furious 
war of the elements. Not so with the house on the 
sand. Its inhabitant is roused at last from his care- 
lessness, but only to find that all hope of deliverance 
is gone. It is too late to save himself by abandon- 
ing the endangered dwelling. The angry waters 
environ it on every side ; and no raft or boat could 
live an instant in that tossing, rushing current. 
His escape, or his destruction, rests solely on the 
question whether the frail structure in which he 
has trusted shall stand or fall. No other reliance 
is left him. Oh, that in the clays of sunshine 
and repose he had gi^en more heed to his foun- 
dation ! But vain are regrets now. The past 



10G BIBLE PICTURES. 

cannot be recalled. He has chosen his refuse, and 
must abide the result. As he listens fearfully to 
the shrieking gale, the pouring deluge, the swash 
of the billows surging round his flimsy shelter, and 
feels it totter and reel at every shock — his strained 
senses catch another and more awful sound, that 
freezes him with terror. It is the creeping and 
gurgling of the waters, as they stealthily work 
their way through the loose soil beneath him. They 
cut deep channels in the yielding sand. More and 
more they encroach upon it — faster and faster they 
wash it away — until, almost with the quickness of 
thought, the whole fabric is undermined, and house 
and owner are swallowed up by the seething tide. 

Our Saviour refers to the difference in the char- 
acter and in the fate of these individuals for the 
purpose of illustrating the momentous lesson which 
He sought to convey. To the one, He compares 
the man who hearkens with reverent docility to the 
announcements of the Gospel — receives, as tran- 
scendent realities, its unfold iugs of guilt and ruin, 
of atonement and redemption — and, by embracing 
them with sincere faith and obedience, builds on 
their impregnable truth his hope of salvation. By 
the history of the other, He represents the madness 
and the doom of him who hears the message of 
Mercy with apathy or scorn ; who sets at nought 
its claims and obligations ; despises the bliss it 



THE TWO BUILDERS. 107 

proffers ; disregards its warnings ; and casting be- 
hind him all its appeals, presses on in his career of 
sin and impenitence. And thus, with one graphic 
touch of light and shade, the Divine Limner has 
sketched the two great classes of believers and un- 
believers — of doers and neglecters of His words. 

We are all builders, and builders for eternity. 
A world of never-ending retribution lies before us ; 
and, consciously or unconsciously, we are preparing 
our abode in that world, and giving form to the 
destiny that awaits us there. However we may 
confine our aims and efforts to the boundaries of 
sense, this is the real result which our life is work- 
ing out — this the necessary bearing of every thought 
and action. By vital union with Christ, by the 
transforming power of His grace, by the cultivation 
of practical godliness, we are rearing a spiritual edi- 
fice that shall be our everlasting defence and joy ; 
or else, by following the devices of our corrupt 
hearts, we expend our energies upon a refuge of lies, 
that will crumble at the breath of the storm, and 
sink with us into the abyss. Each day, each hour, 
contributes to the one or the other of these stu- 
pendous issues. Every movement of our inward 
being — every circumstance of our outward his- 
tory — all that we feel — all that we do — helps 
forward the house that shall endure, or the house 
that shall perish. 



108 BIBLE PICTURES. 

In the fulness of His compassion, Jehovah has 
provided for the lost children of earth an unfailing 
basis of happiness. Long ago He declared by the 
lips of His prophet, "Behold, I lay in Zion for a 
foundation a Stone, a tried Stone, a precious Corner- 
stone, a sure Foundation ; he that believeth shall 
not make haste." This purpose of Infinite Love 
has been fulfilled in the incarnation and sacrifice of 
Christ. The Only Begotten of the Father has taken 
our nature upon Him, put Himself in our place, suf- 
fered the penalty of our transgressions, and wrought 
out that great Propitiation which insures to its con- 
trite receivers pardon and eternal life. Here, in the 
atoning work of the God-Man, is inviolable security 

— a firm ground of trust — to which the sinner may 
commit his immortal interests without fear of disap- 
pointment. 

On this foundation the believer, enlightened and 
guided by Celestial AVisdom, reposes the welfare of 
his soul. Casting aside the superincumbent strata 

— the rubbish of self-confidence and self-righteous- 
ness — he goes down to the naked Rock — to the 
broad, life-giving, all-upholding truth — "None but 
Jesus " — and there lays the ground-tier of his re- 
ligion. Joining the building to the foundation by the 
strong clamps of faith, he carries it up, stone upon 
stone, course after course ; "adding to his faith vir- 
tue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge temperance, 



THE TWO BUILDERS. 109 

to temperance patience, to patience godliness, to 
godliness brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness 
charity ; " and cementing all by Redeeming Blood. 
Living Stones upon a Living Eock ! What tem- 
pest can overturn a structure so constituted, so sus- 
tained? The merits of the Son underlie it; the 
faithfulness of the Father encircles it ; the rainbow 
of the Covenant overarches it ; the graces of the 
Spirit pervade it ; and the downshinings of Heaven 
infold it with a radiance which no earthly darkness 
can dispel. Oh, wise are they, and only they, who 
thus build ! 

Alas ! what multitudes are there whose hopes are 
not planted here ! How many do we daily meet — 
how many are with us now — who reject the Only 
Foundation J They may differ in other respects — 
differ in character, differ in their religious opinions, 
differ in their chosen sources of trust ; but all agree 
in this, that they build not on Christ, and lightly 
esteem the Eock of their Salvation. They rely on 
human strength, human counsels, human expedi- 
ents, human safeguards, and not on that vicarious 
Expiation which God has set forth as the only 
refuge of a fallen world. 

Here is one who endeavors to rear, in the bleak 

waste of Infidelity, a home where he may give 

scope to his depraved appetites, unchecked by the 

thought of accountability, unvisited by the dread of 

10 . 



110 BIBLE PICTTJBES. 

punishment. Discarding the clear, authoritative 
teachings of Revelation, he substitutes in their place 
the obscure hints and vague conjectures of human 
reason. The confused mutteriugs of antichristian 
philosophy, the shallow objections of earth-born 
science, are deemed more worthy of credence than 
the Voice which speaks from heaven. Darkened in 
his understanding by the blinding power of sin, he 
has no perception of moral subjects, or sees them 
only in false lights. Good and evil, guilt and holi- 
ness, are in his view mere arbitrary distinctions ; 
immortality a fiction ; future recompense the dream 
of bigots ; and God, the All-Maker and All-Ruler, 
but an impersonal, unintelligent principle diffused 
through the material universe, taking no cognizance 
of the doings of men, and exercising over them no 
retributive government. In such a position, and 
out of such empty imaginings, he constructs his 
system of Unbelief, and looks to it for rest. But 
the ground is hollow, and the entire fabric a lie, 
from corner-stone to pinnacle. It is ever threaten- 
ing to fall from its own weakness ; and its occupant 
is compelled to resort to every species of sophistical 
prop, to keep it from coming down altogether. 
Oil, skeptic ! thou art not at ease in thy house. 
Thou dost not feel safe there. In thy secret soul, 
thou knowest how insecure it is. There are trem- 
blings underneath — there are bulgings out in the 



THE TWO BUILDERS. Ill 

walls — there are swayings to and fro, that af- 
fright thee with omens of disaster. But if thou 
art thus fearful in the time of Divine forbearance 
and long-suffering, when no tokens of wrath are 
abroad, when God holds back His thunder, and 
death and judgment appear to be distant, where 
will be thy confidence when the fires of the last day 
shall blaze ; when the Almighty One, whom thou 
deniest, shall come forth to vindicate His insulted 
majesty, and the eternal state, which thou strivest 
to believe a delusion, breaks upon thee in all its 
reality and awfuluess? "If in the land of quietness 
they have wearied thee, what wilt thou do in the 
swelling of Jordan ? " 

Another builds on the shaking bog of Universal- 
ism. He labors to persuade himself that God is too 
merciful to doom the wicked to perdition ; that the 
sanctions of His law reach not beyond the grave ; 
and that, however unrighteously men may live, and 
however impeuitently they may die, the salvation 
of all is alike certain. But the hypothesis is too 
heavy for its foundation, and its incongruous mate- 
rials will not hold together. As the swampy soil 
yields under the pressure, the parts settle away 
from each other, leaving wide and fatal openings. 
And so he gropes about in the mire, and covers 
himself with filth, in a bootless effort to close up 
these gaps with guesses and assumptions, and by 



112 BIBLE PICTURES. 

thrusting into them mutilated texts of Scripture, 
torn from their connections. Yet, with all his 
mending and filling, the gaps are there still, pro- 
claiming unsafely, presaging overthrow. 

Another, more fastidious, attempts to raise a 
fortress for his soul on the shifting sands of Liberal 
Christianity. But the loose dust, blown about by 
ever-veering winds of opinion, gets into his eyes, 
and so blinds him, that he cannot see how to build, 
or what to build. At least, he is unable to give to 
his work any definite shape and proportion. The 
utmost that he can do is to heap up a formless pile 
of fragments — broken doctrines, half-truths, dis- 
cordant theories, transcendental speculations, inter- 
spersed with here and there a moral precept, and all 
jumbled together in strange confusion. His erection 
is far less remarkable for what it contains, than for 
what it leaves out. There is nothing positive in 
it. It is a mass of negatives throughout. And its 
builder appropriately writes on it the characteristic 
inscription — No creed — no atoning Saviour — no 
renewing • Spirit — no need of man that man's 
resources cannot meet. 

Influenced by opposite tastes, another puts his 
house on the dead flat of Churchism. He bases his 
expectation of being saved — not on the acceptance 
of Christ by faith — not on the experience of a new 
spiritual birth — not on the conscious working of 



THE TWO BUILDERS. 113 

gracious affections in his soul — but on the fact that 
he has passed through a certain process of outward 
initiation into the visible kingdom of God. His 
religion is a thing of form and ceremony. To sacra- 
ments and ordinances alone he looks for pardon and 
sanctification. Ritual observance usurps the place 
of piety ; the water of Baptism is substituted for 
the blood of Jesus ; and idolatry of the Church 
thrusts out of sight the worship of her Lord. Thus 
he has a name to live while he is dead. Under all 
his conventional religiousness lurks an unregenerate 
heart, and a dominant carnality. Oh, how little 
can formalism do for its votaries in that hour, when 
the voice of Christ on the judgment-seat shall inter- 
pret the words of Christ in the flesh, "Except a 
man be born again, he cannot enter into the king- 
dom of God!" 

There are many who build on their morality. 
Ignorant of God's righteousness, they go about to 
establish their own. They glory in the fancied 
uprightness of their lives — parade their imaginary 
virtues — count up their good deeds — and deem 
it fanatical and monstrous to affirm that all these 
will avail them nothing in the day of decision. 
Keeping out of view the corruption that rankles 
within them — hiding even from themselves their 
real character as enemies of God and strangers to 
all heavenly aspirations — they cherish the fata] 
10* 



114 BIBLE PICTURES. 

deceit, that outward proprieties can atone for the 
absence of inward grace, amiable dispositions com- 
pensate for the want of spiritual endowments, fidel- 
ity in their relations to time counterbalance neglect 
and supineness in their relations to eternity. Their 
social qualities, their domestic charities, the fairness 
of their dealings with men, are brought forward as 
an offset to rebellion against their Creator, and 
denial of the Lord that bought them. And thus 
they fondly dream that the beauty with which they 
adorn the outside of the sepulchre, will more than 
make amends for the foulness that festers within. 
So confidently, so laboriously, they rear their strong- 
hold, and hedge it about with the bristling chevaux 
de frise of self-esteem and self-flattery. Yet, perfect 
as they strive to think it, it does not quite satisfy 
them. Misgivings of its power to stand the inev- 
itable trial disturb the complacency with which they 
regard it. Gloss over the fact as they may, they 
cannot but see its lack of strength and cohesion. 
Hence, they seek to confirm their good opinion of 
it, by keeping prominent its best points, and con- 
cealing the weak ones under thick coats of white- 
wash. But, in spite of patching and varnishing, it 
remains a baseless, disjointed, staggering thing, 
ready to topple into ruins when the finger of God 
touches it. 

A Ktill more numerous class set up their tabcraa- 



THE TWO BUILDERS. 115 

cles in the dream-land of Future Eepentance. The 
position which they now occupy they admit to be 
full of exposure. They acknowledge that they are 
sinners ; and that in Christ alone they can find 
refuge from impending wrath. But they do not 
intend to continue always in their present abode. 
It is their purpose to use it merely as a summer 
residence, and, long before the season of storms, to 
establish themselves on the Rock. Yet, with all 
this confession of danger, they still hesitate and 
delay. The sunny days invite them to linger. The 
balmy air drops slumber from its wings. They are 
indisposed to the exertion and sacrifice of an under- 
taking which they look upon as arduous. They 
think the hour of peril remote, and can see no occa- 
sion for haste while the earth is so green, and the 
sky so bright. And thus they remain, waiting for 
a convenient season — postponing their escape, 
though weeks and months glide swiftly by — ever 
resolving to repair to the Saviour, but never doing 
it, till the dark winter of the grave shuts in upon 
them. 

To enumerate all the false foundations in which 
the ungodly confide, would be an endless task. 
They build on "Wealth, on Reputation, on the 
Quicksands of Doubt, on the Steeps of Presump- 
tion, on the barren heath of their own Works, on 
the land-slides of Procrastination — everywhere but 



116 BIBLE PICTURES. 

on the Rock of Ages — everywhere but on the Only 
Name given among men, whereby they must be saved. 

Xow, if the summer could always last, this folly, 
flagrant as it is, might not be utterly without exten- 
uation. Were this world our final rest — were life 
to go on with us forever as it does now — did no 
great change, coming with ceaseless step nearer, 
ever nearer, cast its shadow over us, and no voices, 
foretelling reward and doom, call to us from the 
spirit-realm — then, though there would still be sin 
and loss in turning away from the offers of the Gos- 
pel, yet some apology for it might be found in 
the comparative unimportance of its consequences. 
True it is, that even here the pure joys of faith out- 
weigh unspeakably the feverish delights of unbelief 
and earthliness. So that, viewing the question 
simply in its temporal aspects, we must pronounce 
the Christian wise, and the worldling foolish. Nev- 
ertheless, it is in connection with eternity that the 
antagonism between them stands out in fullest prom- 
inence. When, therefore, we trace this antagonism 
to its ultimate development in the world of retribu- 
tion, how manifest is the wisdom of the one, how 
glaring the madness of the other ! 

The summer will not always last. The period of 
serenity and careless ease will not be perpetual. 
Probation is wasting, and the hour that is to decade 
its issue is speeding on. The stormy months are at 



THE TWO BUILDERS. 117 

hand. The rain will fall ; the winds will blow ; the 
floods will rush down, and overflow this Valley of 
Mortality in which we have erected our hopes. Ad- 
versity will come, and sickness will come, and death 
will come, and the awful reckoning will come, and 
the everlasting award will come. All these are 
advancing upon us to try the value of our confi- 
dences, and the solidity of their foundations. What 
a contrast of character and of destiny will the trial 
disclose ! 

In every event, under all assaults, the house on 
the Eock will stand firm. Fast anchored on the 
oath and covenant of Jehovah, what power of earth 
or hell can drive it from its moorings ? Sheltered 
within it, the believer can look out upon the wild 
commotion, and take up his parable and sing, " God 
is our Eefuge and Strength. Therefore will not 
we fear, though the earth be removed, and the 
mountains be cast into the midst of the sea ; though 
the waters thereof roar and be troubled ; though the 
mountains shake with the swelling thereof." Amid 
the blasts of temptation, amid the waves of sorrow, 
amid the convulsions and upheavals of all terrestrial 
things, the protecting might of his Eedeemer never 
forsakes him. Even when his mortal tabernacle is 
dissolved, he suffers no wreck. The arm of Omnip- 
otent Love bears him upward from this valley of 
conflict and change, to the mountain of the Lord — 



118 BIBLE PICTURES. 

to the land of unbroken repose; and there — be- 
yond the tempest, bej^ond the whirlwind, beyond 
the floods — awaits him a building of God, a house 
not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 

But the house on the sand — Oh, who shall por- 
tray the fearfulness of its overthrow ! The man 
who puts his trust in carnal reliances, has no prom- 
ise of happiness even in this life ; while, for him, 
the life to come is shrouded in the blackness of dark- 
ness. Destitute of an interest in Christ, bavins: no 
hope, and without God in the world, how can he 
meet the storms that will beat upon him ? He has 
no forgiving Father, no atoning Mediator, no re- 
newing Comforter, no "title sure to mansions in 
the skies." What can support him in affliction? 
What can be his stay when expiring nature sinks, 
and all earthly helpers fail ? The tempest shatters 
his frail dwelling ; the torrent of Death overwhelms 
it, and sweeps him away — away from the shores of 
time — away from all that he loves and enjoys — 
away to the Judgment — away to condemnation — 
away forever, out upon the boundless ocean of 
Despair ! 

"It fell; and great was the fall of it." Well 
might our Lord so describe it. Great, beyond con- 
ception, must be such a fall; for it is the fall of a 
soul — of a soul endowed with vast and ever crow- 
ing capacities of happiness or of misery — of a soul 



THE TWO BUILDERS. 119 

for which redemption was provided — a soul for 
which Christ died — a soul that might have been 
saved — a soul that is lost. The distance from the 
heights of glory to the dungeons of woe can alone 
measure the depth and greatness of this fall. And 
it is an irrecoverable fall. If material structures 
are overturned, others stancher and better may re- 
place them. But if the house of the soul goes down, 
it can be raised up again never more. Earth is our 
building-scene — time our work-period ; and if we 
have built unwisely, we shall find in the future world 
no space and no opportunity for repairing the error. 
"There is no work, nor device, nor wisdom, nor 
knowledge in the grave." "As the tree falls, so it 
must lie." Eternity has no probation. Oh, what 
is the crumbling of towers and palaces, of gorgeous 
temples, and proud cities, of the noblest architectu- 
ral triumphs that man's genius has ever achieved, 
compared with the fall of those spiritual erections 
which infold the infinite Hereafter ! 

Builders on the Eock ! Hold fast to the founda- 
tion. Let no seeming absence of danger, no blan- 
dishments of sense, no stress of secular care, no scoff 
of the unbelieving many, tempt you to forsake it, or 
to question its sufficiency. To the power and grace 
of your Redeemer commit the present and the future. 
Make Him the Ground of your trust, the Source of 
your happiness, the Centre of your life. In Him 



120 BIBLE PICTURES. 

garner up all the riches of the soul. Draw from 
Him every element of your character, every motive 
and inspiration of your conduct. Go to Him for 
righteousness, for sanctification, for wisdom, for 
guidance, for strength, for comfort — for all you 
need below — for all you hope for above. Thus 
"building yourselves upon your most holy faith, 
praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the 
love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord 
Jesus Christ unto eternal life." 

Builders on the sand ! Awake from your delu- 
sions. Be not deceived by the quietness that now 
surrounds you. Heed not the promise of safety, 
which Satan whispers, and your sinful hearts echo. 
It is the song of the Siren luring you to destruction. 
Were your eyes but open, you would perceive, un- 
der all this fallacious tranquillity, a constant disturb- 
ance and unrest, heralding the day of wrath, as the 
ground-swell of the yet sleeping ocean presages the 
bursting of the tornado. There are tremblings in 
the earth. There are warnings in the air. There 
is thunder in the sky. Revelation and Conscience 

— forcshado wings without and forebodings within 

— bear witness of the gathering tempest. Soon, 
how soon you know not, the hail will sweep away 
your refuges of lies, and the waters overflow youv 
hiding places. Oh ! ere that awful moment comes, 
flee to " the munitions of rocks " — to the founda- 



THE TWO BUILDERS. 121 

tion of the Gospel. "Turn ye to the Stronghold, 
ye prisoners of hope." "While the sun, or the 
light, or the moon, or the stars be not darkened, 
nor the clouds return after the rain," seek shelter 
in the bosom of Everlasting Love. Cast yourselves 
on the Great Atonement. Go to Christ in contri- 
tion and prayer; and by believing in Him, link 
your guilt and weakness to His holiness and might. 
Building on that only Ground which the billows of 
Divine Justice cannot undermine, you will be safe 
in life, safe in death, safe in the Judgment, safe in 
that House of many Mansions which no evil can in- 
vade ; where the rains never descend, and the winds 
never blow, and the floods never come ; where 
Security is perfect, and Peace eternal. 
11 




CHAPTER VI. 

GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 

"Let us arise, and go up to Bethel; and I will make there 

AN ALTAR UNTO GOD, WHO ANSWERED ME IN THE DAY OF MY DIS- 
TRESS, AND WAS WITH ME IN THE WAY WHICH I WENT."— Gen. 
'.3. 

3HE power of particular scenes to call up 
trains of thought and feeling that have be- 
come associated with them, is a familiar fact 
in human experience. What a flood of 
emotions, for instance, is awakened by a 
visit to one's birthplace ! Years may have passed 
since the wanderer left it. He may have seen many 
fairer and richer lands. He may have made for 
himself a more luxurious home. But still the dwell- 
ing that sheltered him in his infancy, humble though 
it may be, has for his heart a charm which no other 
can claim. The bounding step with which he went 
forth on his career, may now be slow and feeble. 
The locks, once thick and dark as the raven's plu- 
mage, may have grown thin and white. Yet, as he 
stands once more under the old roof-tree, and clam- 
bers up the hill-sides, or roams through the woods, 
and by the streams, which his childhood knew, that 

122 



GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 123 

childhood comes back to him in all its freshness. 
He feels as he then felt. Memories, half obliterated 
by time and absence, are revived. He hears again 
the voices of his playmates. He mingles again in 
the family group. He sees again the faces of father 
and mother, brothers and sisters. He is a child 
again . The past has become the present ; and the 
interval which divides them, with its labors, and 
cares, and disappointments, is for the moment for- 
gotten. 

Similar, though far purer and holier, are the feel- 
ings of a Christian on returning to his spiritual 
birthplace. The spot where he first bowed his 
knees in prayer; the hour when the Spirit first 
breathed peace into his soul; the place where 
he first uttered the vow of consecration to the 
Saviour — are connected in his mind with the dear- 
est and most hallowed reminiscences. Nor is it 
possible for him to look at that scene again, or to 
recall it even in thought, without impressions fitted 
to strengthen at once his humility and his gratitude. 

Sentiments of this kind appear to have animated 
the patriarch Jacob, when he announced to his 
household his intention of going up to Bethel, and 
building there an altar to the Lord. Bethel was 
the place most sacred in his recollections. There, 
as he went forth a fugitive from his father's house, 
God met him with assurances of protection and 



124 BIBLE PICTURES. 

favor. There heavenly communications first greeted 
his soul. There he entered into solemn coveuant 
with Jehovah. And there, beyond question, was 
the starting-point of his religious life — the epoch 
of his transition from darkness to light. Many 
years had gone by since that memorable hour. He 
had been a sojourner in a distant clime. He left 
his native land poor and solitary ; he was now 
restored to it, rich in worldly goods, with a numer- 
ous family around him. He had experienced many 
changes, encountered many temptations, witnessed 
many proofs of the Divine care and bounty. Much 
had he to be humble for in his own conduct ; much 
to be thankful for in the providence of God. How 
interesting and solemn, then, must have been his 
reflections, as he again drew near the spot where 
Jehovah first revealed Himself to him, and acknowl- 
edged him as his own ! 

In the life of every true believer there has been 
a Bethel — a time when God met him, and made 
him a partaker of His grace. To this period it is 
profitable for him often to go back in thought, and, 
reviewing the engagements into which he then 
entered, and the way in which he has since been 
led, to erect altars to the Lord, and offer on them 
the tribute of penitence and of thankfulness. 

A leading motive that impelled Jacob to re-visit 
Bethel, was the desire of calling up in his mind the 



GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 125 

vows which he made while resting there on his out- 
ward journey. Having witnessed in a vision signal 
tokens of Jehovah's regard, he "vowed a vow, say- 
ing, If the Lord will be with me, and will keep me 
in this way that I go, so that I come again to my 
father's house in peace, then shall the Lord be my 
God." Here was a promise of unswerving alle- 
giance to the Most High, and of entire devotion to 
His will. And the wish to revive that solemn en- 
gagement, and stamp it anew on his soul, was 
largely active in inspiring his present purpose. 

Vows even more sacredly binding have been 
made at Bethel by the people of God in every age. 
All of us who have passed through that scene of the 
open Heaven and of descending Mercy, have taken 
upon ourselves obligations as comprehensive as they 
are inviolable. One of these was the vow of full 
and cordial faith in Christ. It was through Christ 
that God was manifested to us in the endearing 
aspect of forgiveness and love. Through Christ 
He made Himself known to us as our Friend and 
Father. The atonement of Christ was the celestial 
ladder by which the Divine communications of par- 
don, grace and peace came down to our souls. 
Faith in Christ, therefore, as our Substitute and our 
Redeemer, and as the Source of all our spiritual 
life, must have been one of the earliest and most 

prominent exercises of our renovated nature. En- 
11* 



126 BIBLE PICTURES. 

lightened by the teaching which is from above, 
we saw Him to be a perfect and infinite Saviour, 
suited to all the necessities of our case. We felt 
that we had no hope but in Him. We abandoned 
every other refuge. We cast our souls beneath His 
Cross. We received Him as our Prophet, Priest 
and King, and committed our everlasting interests 
iuto His hands. In that act of surrender, we bound 
ourselves to repose in Him an implicit and never- 
failing trust, aud to look to Him, through all our 
future course, for light to direct, grace to sanctify, 
and strength to uphold us. 

Standing once more at Bethel, how freshly do we 
remember that vow, and with what searching im- 
pressiveness is the question brought home to us, in 
what manner we have kept it ! How have we ful- 
filled our promise to the Saviour? Have we not 
often lost sight of Him, and lightly esteemed the 
Rock of our Salvation ? In the hour of trial have 
avc not doubted Him ; in the season of prosperity 
forgotten Him? Have we not neglected to apply 
to Him day by day for those supplies of holiness 
and comfort which He has been ever able and will- 
ing to bestow? Have we not, times without num- 
ber, turned away from the Fountain of Living 
Waters, and vainly tried to slake our thirst at the 
streams of earthlincss and sense? Have we not 
sought happiness in the business, the connections, 



GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 127 

the amusements of the world, more than in com- 
munion with Christ, and devotedness to Him? 
Oh ! as we look back on our religious history, what 
cause have we to deplore the weakness and insta- 
bility of our faith ! How often have we grieved 
the Saviour by our unbelief and mistrust, our want 
of confidence in His promises, and our slowness to 
seek the blessings which He alone can give ! On 
the altar which we build let us lay the offering of a 
broken and contrite heart, for having lived at such 
a distance from Christ, and for having confided in 
Him so little. 

Renouncement of sin was included in the cove- 
nant which we made at Bethel. No man ever ex- 
perienced genuine conversion, without having been 
led to abhor his corrupt propensities, and to put 
forth earnest efforts for their subjugation. In an 
unregenerate state, we may be insensible to the 
depravity of our hearts, and think lightly of the 
outward transgressions of which it is the spring. 
But when light from heaven shines in upon the soul, 
our moral perceptions are rectified, and iniquity 
appears to us in its true colors. We see the majesty 
and holiness of God ; the purity, perfection, and 
spirituality of His law. We see that our whole 
lives have been one prolonged act of disobedience 
to that law, and of rebellion against its glorious 
Author. We perceive that in us there dwell eth no 



128 BIBLE PICTURES. 

good thing ; that our nature is polluted to its very 
core ; and that in affection and in conduct alike we 
have been alienated from the Father of our spirits, 
and the Giver of all our mercies. Overwhelmed 
by such views of the goodness of God, of the right- 
eousness of His claims, and of our own criminality 
in disregarding them, we prostrate ourselves before 
His throne, and cry, " Unclean, unclean ! " In deep 
contrition of soul, we loathe our guilt, and ourselves 
on account of it. We look on sin as that abomi- 
nable thing which has not only destroyed our own 
peace, but insulted the Holy One, and brought His 
Only Begotten Son to the Cross. We hate it. We 
abhor it. We renounce all friendship and alliance 
with it. We resolve, in the strength of God, to 
give it no harborage and no quarter forever. These 
feelings and this determination are inseparable 
from real conversion. Repentance of all past sins, 
and a firm, conscientious purpose to avoid sin in 
future, are among the first elements of piety, and 
lie at the very entrance of the Christian life. And 
if we have ever been at Bethel, we have recorded 
such a vow. TIow, then, have we kept it? Have 
we not, in a thousand instances, forgotten or broken 
it? Have we not often yielded to temptation, often 
neglected duty, often conformed in spirit and in 
practice to an ungodly world? Have we not al- 
lowed our former evil propensities — our vanity, 



GOIXG BACK TO BETHEL. 129 

pride, envy, covetousness — often to come back 
into their old seats, and resume their power over 
us? If so, let us return to Bethel, and pronounce 
the tow again, and pray for grace to keep it more 
faithfully during our remaining years. 

At Bethel we dedicated ourselves to the service 
and glory of God. One of the strongest feelings 
of the new convert is a sense of obligation for the 
unmerited grace conferred upon him. He reflects 
on the astonishing mercy of God in providing for 
him a Saviour, calling him out of darkness into 
light, and making him an heir of heaven. He thinks 
of the amazing love of Christ in dying to atone for 
his sins, and in procuring the Holy Spirit to renew 
and sanctify his nature. Animated by impressions 
like these, he cheerfully consecrates himself, body, 
mind, and soul, to the cause of his Maker and Ee- 
deemer. He feels that he is not his own: that, 
having been ransomed from condemnation and guilt 
at an infinite price, he belongs henceforth to Christ, 
and is bound, by every tender and constraining mo- 
tive, to obey His commands, and seek the extension 
of His kingdom. He sees the glory of God in the 
salvation of sinners to be the great centre on which 
all his desires should be fixed, and to which all his 
aims and efforts should tend ; and he longs to make 
it the controlling influence and the grand purpose 
of his life. 



130 BIBLE PICTURES. 

Thus we once felt. Thus, subdued and melted 
by the free, boundless compassion of our God and 
Saviour, Ave save ourselves wholly to him, ens:aofin2r 
to live for His praise and glory alone. But how 
have we redeemed that pledge ? Have we met it 
fully, constantly, decidedly? Have we made the 
service of Christ, and the advancement of His 
cause, the main object of our existence — the point 
to which our warmest zeal and most active exertions 
have been directed? On the contrary, have we not 
too often lived as though we had no higher purpose 
than the gratification of our own selfish wishes ? In 
our eagerness to secure the prizes which the world 
holds out to its votaries, have we not frequently 
suffered ourselves to become indifferent to the 
honor of God, the success of the Gospel, and the 
wants of our perishing fellow-men ? If we are in 
any degree chargeable with such unfaithfulness, let 
us go back to Bethel, renew our covenant with God, 
and determine, through His strength, to devote all 
we have and all we are to extend His reign on 
earth. 

Oh, vows made at Bethel ! How soon does your 
influence decay ! How quickly is your hold on our 
unstable hearts weakened or broken ! How often is 
the goodness from which ye spring transient as the 
morning cloud and the early dew ! To how many 
is the very memory of the feelings that called you 



GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 131 

forth only as a half-forgotten dream — the faint 
looming of a distant shore, dimly descried across 
the wide, tossing sea of wordly care ! The pillars 
of stone which, like the patriarch, they set up, as 
your perpetual memorial, have been overturned by 
the rush of secular events, and ground to powder 
under their rolling wheels ; while the symbolic oil 
with which they were consecrated has been dried up 
by the winds of temptation, or washed away by the 
deluge of business or of pleasure. 

Vows made at Bethel ! Ye may be neglected 
and disregarded here. The lips that once pro- 
nounced you may pronounce you no more. The 
bosoms in which ye were once written may retain 
scarce a trace of that writing now. But ye are reg- 
istered in heaven. Your record, though dust-cov- 
ered and obliterated on earth, is transcribed, clear 
and full, into the Book of God's Eemembrance ; and 
will be read out, in every syllable and in every 
letter, before assembled worlds, at the great reck- 
oning Day. 

Another and a chief reason assigned by the patri- 
arch for his desire to revisit Bethel, was that he 
might there " build an altar to God, who answered 
him in the day of his distress, and was with him in 
the way which he went." In other words, he 
wished to make a public and visible expression of 
his gratitude for past deliverances and mercies. In 



132 BIBLE PICTURES. 

the hour of his deepest extremity, when he fled 
from the vengeance of his incensed brother, and 
knew not whither to turn for shelter, God inter- 
posed for his rescue, and cheered him by the prom- 
ise of constant support and protection. And during 
all his subsequent exile, God had been with him as 
his Friend and Upholder, consoling him by His gra- 
cious visits, and blessing him with numerous tokens 
of His bounty. In view of such manifestations of 
the Divine favor toward him, well might he wish to 
build an altar to the Lord, and to offer on it the 
sacrifice of thanksgiving. 

Your own history, Christian reader, furnishes 
equal cause for gratitude and praise. God has 
answered you in the day of your distress. You 
remember well the time when you first awoke from 
the slumber of unbelief and carelessness to a sense 
of your condition as a guilty and lost sinner. Your 
eyes were opened to perceive the fearful peril in 
which you stood, and the utter misery to which you 
were exposed. You saw yourself an outcast from 
your Father's house, a stranger to the Covenant of 
Promise, having no hope, and without God in the 
world. The broken law pealed its thunders over 
you. Behind you flamed the sword of the Avenger ; 
before you yawned the abyss of doom. You had do 
power to deliver yourself, and no mortal arm could 
bring you succor. On every side you looked for 



GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 133 

help, but met only Despair. Oh, it was an hour 
that you will never forget — an hour of distress and 
perplexity — an hour of darkness like the shadow 
of death ! And then it was, when cut off from all 
human aid, that you prayed in agony to Him who 
alone can save. Out of the depths you cried unto 
the Lord, and He heard you from His Holy Hill, 
and stretched forth His hand, and delivered you. 
He took your feet from the horrible pit, from the 
miry clay, and established your goings upon a rock. 
By the atoning Sacrifice of His Son, He washed 
away your sins, and absolved you from punishment ; 
and by the energy of His Spirit, He broke the 
power of your corruptions, and breathed into your 
soul a new element of holiness and peace. From 
the waste, howling wilderness, He brought you 
into His banquetmg-house, made you His child, 
and spread over you the banner of His love. Oh, 
what a moment was that when God thus met you ! 
What a Bethel was that where you first heard His 
voice whispering to your hushed and listening heart, 
" Thy sins are forgiven thee ! " You saw heaven 
opened. You saw let down the mystic ladder of 
Christ's mediation. You saw descending by it par- 
don, peace, and salvation. Once alienated and con- 
demned, you were reconciled to God by the blood 
of His Son, justified and accepted through His mer- 
its, and invested with a title to all the hopes and 

12 



134 BIBLE ^PICTURES. 

privileges of the Gospel here, and to eternal life 
hereafter. Thus God answered you in the day of 
your distress. 

And ever since He has been with you in the way 
that you have gone, and has made you the object 
of His special care and kindness. He has been 
with you as your Guide. "The steps of a good 
man are ordered by the Lord." "The meek will 
He guide in judgment ; the meek w T ill He teach His 
way." By His Word and Spirit, He has taught 
you His will, and pointed out the path in which He 
would have you walk. He has directed all your 
goings. Through whatever scenes you have been 
called to pass, whether of joy or of sorrow, it was 
J lis wisdom that appointed your course, and His 
hand that led you in it. He has been with you as 
the Source of your strength. Whatever power you 
have had to resist temptation, to bear the toils and 
sacrilices of the Christian life, has been supplied 
from His infinite fulness. He has been with you as 
your Defender and Comforter. In danger He has 
shielded you ; in darkness He has been your light ; 
in trouble and affliction He has consoled you. 
Everywhere and always He has been by your side, 
sustaining you by His presence, cheering you by 
His promises, succoring you by His help, and caus- 
ing all the vicissitudes of your earthly lot to work 
together for His glory, and your own highest good. 



GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 135 

And never will He leave or forsake you. He is 
drawing you up to Himself by the golden chain of 
His love. That chain can never be severed ; and 
the links which you have already felt and seen are 
an earnest that the remaining links, in all their 
bright succession, shall yet be displayed to you. 
Mercies past are the pledges and forerunners of 
mercies to come. The power that converted shall 
preserve you. The grace that recovered you when 
lost, shall keep you when found. The eye which 
sought you out in the wilderness, will watch over 
you in the fold. The hand which brought you 
through "the strait gate," will uphold you in "the 
narrow way." And the staff, on which you have 
leaned hitherto, shall be your stay in every onward 
scene, down into the dim vale of age, and across 
the dark river of death. Thus, in all the way that 
you have yet to go, will He guide and sustain your 
steps, till He bring you in triumph to His own 
right hand in heaven. 

Can you, then, withhold from Him the tribute of 
praise which He deserves ? Will you not build an 
altar, and offer on it the sacrifice of a grateful 
heart ? In view of the grace and mercy which He 
has manifested toward you, will 3^011 not dedicate 
yourselves afresh to His service, and resolve that 
all your future days shall be sacred to His glory ? 
Oh ! when you think how He has answered you in 



136 BIBLE PICTURES. 

the day of your distress, and followed you with 
never-ceasing benefits ; and then reflect how un- 
faithfully you have lived, how often you have 
departed from Him — must not your soul overflow 
with mingled emotions of penitence and thankful- 
ness ? And must you not feel every claim of duty 
and every bond of love constraining you to a life of 
more earnest and entire obedience ? Let each one 
who is conscious of having in any measure declined 
from the way of the Lord, be conjured to return 
without delay, and to give himself with new zeal 
and activity to the work of his own salvation, and 
that of the perishing multitudes around him. 

There are some who have well-nigh forgotten 
Bethel. They retain but little of the feeling which 
they cherished at the time of their conversion. The 
altars, which they then erected in the closet, in the 
family, and in the place of social prayer, are now 
broken down and deserted. Their fires have gone 
out, and have left only the ashes of extinct faith, 
and zeal, and love. The purposes of devoted ncss 
to the Saviour, which they then formed, have been 
overborne and swept away by the force of tempta- 
tion and worldlincss. They have left their first 
love ; and communion with God, and delight in His 
service, are with them now things of memory rather 
than of present experience. Oh, ye whose con- 
sciences testify that you have thus forsaken the 



GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 137 

Lord, return to the footstool of His mercy, and 
seek once more the light of His countenance ! Arise, 
and go to Bethel. Build again the altar which has 
fallen down. Offer on it again the sacrifice of low- 
liness and contrition. God waits to receive you 
there. His compassions are not exhausted by all 
your waywardness and disobedience. The ladder 
between earth and heaven is not yet drawn up ; and 
communications of grace are as free to you now as 
when the Lord first met you, and filled your heart 
to overflowing with the joy of His salvation. Oh ! 
why will you continue to live at such a distance 
from Him? The world cannot make you happy. 
It is empty, delusive, transitory. In the Lord 
alone can you find solid and lasting peace * Go 
back, then, to your forsaken Saviour ; call up the 
resolutions which you have broken ; resume the 
duties which you have neglected ; give yourself to 
God anew ; and hope and comfort shall once more 
spring up in your heart ; and the spot, where you 
thus bow your knees in holy surrender, shall be to 
you again the very gate of heaven. 

Some there are who have never been at Bethel. 
They have never met God, and He has never met 
them. They are yet in their natural state of 
estrangement from Him in whose hands their breath 
is, and with whom are all their ways. Heaven has 
not been opened to their view. Eternal realities 
12* 



138 BIBLE PICTURES. 

have never come nigh to them, and taken hold of 
their hearts. They have never had a spiritual per- 
ception of the way of access to God through Christ. 
Surrounded by the light of the Gospel, they walk 
in darkness. Upheld by Jehovah's providence, and 
daily feeding on His bounty, they are still living in 
fatal ignorance of His renewing and sanctifying 
grace. Oh ! ye impenitent and worldly, prodigal 
children of a forgotten Father, how mournful is 
your condition ! You have no union with God ; no 
refuge from the sentence of His violated law ; no 
home and no hope beyond the fleeting scenes of 
time. You have never entered into covenant with 
the Almighty ; you have not owned Him as your 
King ; you have not obeyed Him as your Father ; 
and He, therefore, will not acknowledge you as His 
children, when you stand before his judgment-seat. 
Live no longer in this guilty, this dangerous state. 
Renounce the sins which separate you from the 
Fountain of life and happiness. Make God your 
portion. Go to Him by that new and living Way 
which has been opened through the blood of His 
Son. Embrace by faith the Reconciliation offered 
in the Gospel, and you shall be no more strangers 
and foreigners, but fellow-heirs with the saints to 
all the immunities of fellowship with God now, and 
to the heritage of glory in eternity. The whole 
earth shall become to you a Bethel. Jehovah will 



GOING BACK TO BETHEL. 139 

meet you, and converse with you, as a man with 
his friend. He will be with you, as your unfailing 
Companion and Helper, through all the scenes of 
your earthly wayfaring, till He bring you to His 
own presence on high, where there is fulness of joy, 
and to His right hand, where there are pleasures 
for evermore. 




CHAPTER VII. 

THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 

"Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy kingdom." 
— Luke xxiii. 42. 

VERY circumstance connected with our 
Saviour's death is full of interest and in- 
struction. Yet in that series of events, the 
most momentous which the earth has ever 
seen, there is perhaps nothing more sug- 
gestive and affecting than the incident to which the 
text relates. Though but an episode in the great 
drama of the Crucifixion, it possesses a beauty and 
a pathos that cannot fail to arrest the dullest mind. 
Occurring in the very shadow of that Cross, on 
which the redemption of a world was wrought out, 
it seems to be pervaded by its power, and to reflect 
its glory. The place and the hour give it peculiar 
emphasis, and render it living and eloquent for all 
the ages. Let us recall the scene, and ponder the 
lessons which it conveys. 

The narrative opens amid the awful transactions 
of Calvary. Our Divine Substitute is bearing in 
His own body the punishment of an apostate race. 
The malice of His foes has triumphed. He has 

140 



THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 141 

been seized by a ruthless band of conspirators, 
dragged before the Sanhedrim, condemned by the 
Roman governor to be crucified, borne by brutal 
soldiers to the place of execution, and nailed by 
their pitiless hands to the accursed tree. But He 
is not alone in His agony. With the view of heap- 
ing deeper shame on His sacred head, two convicts, 
infamous for their offences against human law, are 
associated with Him in suffering. And there, under 
the astonished heavens, they hang — the Holy Vic- 
tim for sin in the centre — the foul perpetrators of 
sin on either side — alike in doom, but oh, how 
unlike in character ! And around them on that 
memorable hill, densely thronging all its slopes, 
stand the mocking priests, the remorseless Phari- 
sees, and the ribald multitude, hurling scoffs and 
railings at their dying Messiah ! How shocking the 
spectacle ! No wonder the shuddering earth quaked 
to bear it, and the shrouded skies refused to be- 
hold it. So utter was the humiliation to which our 
Sacrifice submitted, that He might take away our 
iniquities. 

For a time, both of the criminals join the insen- 
sate crowd in pouring obloquy on the Son of God. 
But over the spirit of one of them there comes a 
sudden and wondrous change. He ceases to rail. 
He admonishes and rebukes his companion in wick- 
edness. He confesses his guilt and the justice of 



142 BIBLE PICTURES. 

his punishment. He implores mercy. He obtains 
assurance of pardon and salvation. 

To what source are we to attribute a transition so 
instantaneous and so complete? The most unre- 
flecting observer cannot but perceive that the dying 
thief,, in the new principles and emotions to which 
he gave utterance, must have been acted upon by 
an influence far higher and mightier than any mere 
impulse of natural thought, or of natural conscience. 
There is no faculty of the human mind whose un- 
aided workings can account for such a change. In 
the recorded history of this individual, we have 
before us two states of moral being directly oppo- 
site to each other. At one moment, his soul is 
black with despair, and convulsed with hate and 
rage ; while from lips quivering with mortal throes 
he belches forth curses and blasphemies upon the 
Divine Sufferer at his side. A brief interval passes, 
and that same soul is subdued, humbled, melted 
into contrition and love ; and those same lips over- 
flow with expressions of trust and worship. The 
transformation thus effected — a transformation 
rapid, thorough, comprehensive — can be explained 
only by the fact, that at this solemn crisis of his 
being, as he hung on the brink of eternity, with the 
gulf of perdition opening beneath him, the Omnipo- 
tent Renovator touched his heart, and brought him 
from condemnation to acceptance, from the power 



THE THIEF OX THE CROSS. 143 

of Satan imto God. He was born again — saved by 
the washing of regeneration, and the renewing of 
the Holy Ghost. A mystic word was spoken — a 
mystic energy went forth — and the wild tossings 
of depravity within him were laid to rest, and his 
whole immortal destiny changed. TTell may we 
believe that the God-man had looked on him with 
yearning compassion, as they trod together the pain- 
ful road to Calvary. TTell may we believe that in 
that merciful pleading for His murderers, "Father, 
forgive them, for they know not what they do," 
there was a special intercession for the obdurate one 
who shared His torture, but not its support. Aud 
now, in fulfilment of the Mediators prayer, celes- 
tial Grace descended into the depths of that polluted 
soul, dispelling all its darkness, purifying all its 
affections, pervading all its recesses, and diffusing 
holiness and peace, where before guilt and despera- 
tion reigned alone. 

Of the truth of this statement ample corroboration 
will be found, if we examine more particularly the 
frame of mind which he manifested. Even a cur- 
sory analysis will show it to have been such as can 
exist in fallen man only through the operation of the 
quickenmg Spirit, and such as furuishes, wherever 
it is displayed, conclusive proof of His presence and 
agency. 

Among the sentiments which he expressed, we 



144 BIBLE PICTURES. 

notice a warm and affectionate recognition of the 
Saviour's innocence. The strength and fulness of 
his conviction on this point appear in the signifi- 
cant reproof which he addressed to his companion. 
"Dost thou not fear God, seeing thou art in the 
same condemnation ? and we indeed justly, for we 
receive the due reward of our deeds ; but this man 
hath done nothing amiss." This confidence in the 
blamelessness of Jesus was in many respects emi- 
nently remarkable. At the moment when he pro- 
claimed it, the whole surrounding multitude regarded 
Christ as an infamous criminal, righteously doomed 
to death. The fickle and maddened populace of 
Jerusalem, led on by their priests and rulers, looked 
upon Him as a sacrilegious blasphemer, who had 
assailed their national religion, traduced their Holy 
City, and threatened the destruction of their Temple, 
and of their entire ecclesiastical state. The Roman 
soldiers, who were the immediate instruments of His 
execution, probably knew not, and cared not, with 
what offense He was charged. But as he had been 
condemned by the proper civil tribunal, they took 
it for granted that He was some vile instigator of 
sedition, and joined their voices to swell the tide of 
general execration that was poured upon Him. Those 
of His disciples who were present were indeed well 
aware that He was wholly guiltless of the crimes 
imputed to Him. Neverthelqss, fear kept thorn 



THE THIEF OX THE CROSS. 145 

silent : and however deeply they may have mourned 
His fate, there is no account that they uttered a 
single word in justification of His character. In all 
the vast throng that encompassed His cross, the only 
expression of pity for His sufferings and abhorrence 
of His unjust doom, fell from the lips of the poor, 
expiring felon by His side. Xo angelic champion 
asserted His holiness. Xo apostle stood forth to 
declare it. Xot even the women, who watched His 
agonies from afar, ventured a syllable in His de- 
fense. The sole advocacy of the world's best Friend, 
in the hour in which He gave His life a ransom for 
the world, was left to a nameless thief. And this 
advocacy, brief as it was, and spoken amid the 
thick-coming pangs of death, clearly evinced that, 
in reference to Christ, the feelings of him who prof- 
fered it had undergone a total change. Xo longer 
viewing Him as the object of merited reproach and 
scorn, he could not bear even to listen to the insults 
which others were casting on the Immaculate One. 
In the fervor of his new convictions, he rebuked the 
impious utterances of his associate, and tendered to 
the Holy Sufferer the tribute of his own veneration, 
sympathy and sorrow. 

TThat produced this marvellous revolution of 
temper and conduct ? It is not probable that he had 
any knowledge of Jesus till he met Him on the way 
to the cross ; or if, perchance, that despised name 

13 



146 BIBLE PICTURES. 

had ever reached his ear, it was only as the syn- 
onym of imposture and baseness. He took part at 
first in the universal contempt of the Nazarene, and 
manifested a hatred of Him bitter as that shown by 
the rest. What was there in the circumstances 
around him — in the jeering crowd — in the fiend- 
ish shouts of malice and derision — in the aspect of 
the silent, unresisting Victim — to overcome this 
enmity, and substitute for it emotions of tenderness 
and love? Could any human influence work so 
great and vital a change ? The influence was not 
human — it was Divine. The effect was wrought 
by that all-revealing Spirit, whose office it is to 
open the eyes which sin has closed, and display to 
the darkened soul the excellence and beauty of 
Christ. 

The language of the dying malefactor breathes 
confession and penitence. The sympathy which he 
expressed for the Saviour prepared the way for the 
vivid perception and the contrite acknowledgment of 
his own guilt. A spiritual apprehension of Christ, 
of the loveliness of His character, and the expiatory 
nature of His sufferings, always leads the soul to a 
sense of its sinfulness and ruin. It was so in the 
instance we are considering.' Glancing back upon 
the iniquities of his life, he exclaims in behalf of 
himself and his fellow-culprit, "We receive the due 
reward of our deeds." It cannot be doubted that 



THE THIEF ON THE CROSS. 147 

his words indicate genuine contrition. Through 
the power of the Holy Spirit, he was now the sub- 
ject of that " repentance unto life " which is indis- 
pensable to reconcilement with God. His former 
history rose to his view in all its appalling black- 
ness. He sought not to extenuate it, or to justify 
himself for it. Under the convincing light that 
now shone within him, disclosing to the soul's gaze 
the soul's defilement, his emotions were like those 
of Job when he said, "Behold, I am vile; what 
can I answer thee ? I abhor myself, and repent in 
dust and ashes " — like those of David when he said, 
" I acknowledge my sin, and mine iniquity have I 
not hid" — like those of the publican when he smote 
on his breast, and cried, " God be merciful to me a 
sinner." Thus from the cross, where he suffered 
the justice of man, went up to heaven the sacrifice 
of a broken and contrite heart. 

What awakening monitions does his experience 
address to ourselves ! How impressively does it 
remind us that we must have the same conscious- 
ness of guilt, and the same sorrow for it, or be 
forever shut out from pardon ! Our own transgres- 
sions are manifold and aggravated ; and however 
free we may deem ourselves from the outward vices 
with which his life was stained, yet, in our inward 
character — in our relations to God's law and to 
God's grace — we may bear a deeper criminality than 



148 BIBLE PICTURES. 

was possible to him. He sinned in ignorance and 
in darkness. "We sin in the full blaze of Christian 
lisrht and knowledge. He never heard of a Saviour 
till he stood with Him on the mount of Crucifixion ; 
and in that first and only interview he cast his 
soul on the merits of His atonement. We have 
neglected the blessings which He offers, while all 
our lives long He has been walking by our side in 
His word and ordinances. Every one who remains 
impenitent under the invitations and warnings of 
the Gospel, is in the sight of Heaven a greater sin- 
ner than the felon on the cross. And as he was 
exposed to the justice of the tribunal on high, as 
well as to the retribution of earth, so are we liable 
to that eternal wrath which Jehovah has denounced 
upon all who hold fast to their estrangement from 
Him. It becomes us to confess the equity of our 
condemnation ; to deplore our unrighteousness ; and 
to flee for refuge to the great Propitiation. And if 
we refuse to do this, then as certainly as the cruci- 
fied thief expiated the violation of human law, so 
certainly shall we expiate, in everlasting torment, 
our violations of the Divine. 

One more element in the language of this peni- 
tent sinner, was believing prayer. f 'Lord, remem- 
ber me, when Thou comest into Thy kingdom.*' 
Under the teaching of the Divine Enlightener, how 
rapid was his progress in spiritual things ! Like 



THE THIEF OX THE CROSS. 149 

the morning of a tropical clime, it flashed from 
darkness into day. His last utterance embraced 
only the sinlessness of Christ. Xow he calls Him 
Lord. Xow he adores Him as a King, swaying, 
even upon the cross, the sceptre of heaven and 
earth. Xow he pleads for an interest in His re- 
demptive work, as the alone requisite to salvation. 
Oh, how much was implied in this one sentence, 
pronounced by such lips, in such circumstances ! 
It involved belief in the Deity of Jesus — belief in 
the vicarious expiation of Jesus — belief that in 
Jesus was the only refuge of a sinful soul, and that 
on Him must the trembling spirit rely for present 
cleansing, and for final glory. How strong and 
earnest, moreover, is the tone of this testimony, and 
how indescribably sweet and touching the petition 
which it breathes ! " Remember me ! " Did ever 
perishing mortal gasp out a prayer more simple and 
yet more comprehensive than this ? What Avant of 
undone man does it not include ? What grace of 
regenerate man does it not express ? " Remember 
me ! " What a sense of unworthiness the words 
speak ! He asks only remembrance from Christ. 
What far-reaching faith ! He feels that to be re- 
membered by Christ carries with it every other 
blessing. What confidence ! He commits his hap- 
piness to one who, in outward appearance, is a 
dying criminal like himself. What love ! He longs 

13* 



150 BIBLE PICTURES. 

for a place in the memory of this branded, crucified 
Friend more than for the homage of earth's greatest 
and best. What hope ! From the gloom and hor- 
ror that environ him, he looks away to the heavenly 
world, and sees the Redeemer in the glory of His 
kingdom, and trusts that even he, the vile outcast 
here, will be remembered there. 

And who will not join in his prayer ? Who will 
not say, in a spirit equally earnest, "Lord, remem- 
ber me"? Christ is our only hope. There is no 
other name by which we can be saved. He invites 
us to come to Him, and repose our eternal welfare 
in His hands. If we obey His voice, we shall find 
that not in one lonely instance will He forget those 
who look to Him for succor, and desire a home in 
His kingdom. Oh, then, let each of us make this 
petition our own. Aged man, standing on the 
brink of the grave, and shrinking back with dread 
from the eternity so near thee — cry, "Lord, re- 
member me." Thou man of toil, harassed with 
care, and given up to terrene pursuits, seek a higher 
good — cry, "Lord, remember me." Thou afflicted 
one, bereaved of human love, and weeping over 
the crushed hopes and joys that strew thy desolate 
path — cast thy bleeding heart on the bosom of 
Jesus, and cry, " Lord, remember me." Thou vain 
youth, panting for pleasure, and roaming in the 
delusive quest of worldly delight — turn from thy 



THE THIEF OX THE CEOSS. 151 

fatal course ; give thy heart to the Saviour : and 
laying at His feet the bright gifts of life's morning. 
cry, "Lord, remember me." And thou little child. 
clinging yet as a fair bud to thy mother's breast, 
learn this prayer from her lips, and kneeling by her 
side, say in thy infant tones, "Lord, remember 
me." In this brief petition is comprehended all that 
we can need for the life that now is, and for that 
which is to come. If Jesus remembers us. it mat- 
ters little who else forgets us. If Jesus remembers 
us, He will supply us with all grace for the conflicts 
of time, and with all the blessedness of immortality. 

Having thus spoken out the longing of his soul, 
the suppliant is silent, listening with strained ear 
and throbbing heart for the answer. Nor is that 
answer delayed. He who came to seek and to save 
the lost, welcomes with Divine joy this fruit of His 
atoning travail, and, amid the a£fonv of that travail. 
sends forth the response. "To-day shalt thou be 
with Me in Paradise." The prayer was accepted, 
the mercy assured. 

Contemplate the scene of this promised happi- 
ness. In the New Testament, the word Paradise is 
employed to denote the state of the redeemed while 
separate from the body. That such a state exists. 
Revelation has affirmed with a clearness that pre- 
cludes doubt, and in instances too numerous to be 
cited. Often and most decisivelv is the solemn 



152 BIBLE PICTURES. 

fact announced, that the world of retribution begins 
at the grave ; that being, not annihilation, life, not 
death, conscious activity, not forgetfulness. await 
the soul immediately on the dissolution of its mortal 
framework : and that they who die in Christ enter 
at once into blessedness — blessedness full and per- 
fect as the powers of the disembodied can contain. 
And to this allotment of the saved, which precedes 
the crowning beatitudes of the last day. when the 
glorified spirit shall inhabit the glorified body, the 
Evangelic AVriters irive the name of Paradise. It 
is important to observe, that the term is not used 
to indicate a different region from heaven, but only 
to mark the particular circumstances of departed 
saints, previous to the resurrection. That Paradise 
is heaven, is evident from the fact that St. Paul uses 
both words to describe the same place. He says 
that he was caught up into the third heaven — the 
special seat of God's presence, the peculiar abode 
of His glory ; and then, in repeating the statement, 
he says that he was caught up into Paradise — man- 
ifestly applying both designations to one and the 
same locality. Heaven is the general name given 
to the scene of immortal felicity, considered in 
reference to all its inhabitants, whether angels or 
the spirits of justified men; while Paradise is the 
specific term employed to describe the condition of 
glorified souls, which, though dwelling in heaven, 



THE THIEF OX THE CROSS. 153 

and happy to the extent of their present capacities, 
yet, being separate from the body, have not attained 
to the fulness of bliss which they will enjoy, when 
their whole nature, complete and perfect, shall walk 
the celestial fields. 

Such was the beatific home to which the dying 
Christ invited the dying malefactor. Of that glori- 
ous abode Jesus has the keys ; and by the efficacy 
of His propitiation, He was then opening the gate 
to the spirit trembling on the verge of the boundless 
unknown. In consequence of its new-born faith in 
that propitiation, the soul, which but a moment 
before was just ready to plunge into the abyss of 
woe, was now established on the Kock of Ages, 
and soon to be borne upward to its mansion in the 
skies. 

To that mansion the Redeemer was to lead the 
way, and meet the disciple there. This it was 
which made the promise of salvation so rich in joy. 
To the believer on the cross, a heaven without 
Christ would have been no heaven. The absence 
of his Deliverer would have rendered even Paradise 
a land of exile. And similar are the feelings of all 
who have been the subjects of recovering grace. 
The heart, whose chief trust and love are fixed on 
Jesus, can find no perfect happiness where He is 
not. There might be a world all bright and fade- 
less, inaccessible to change and grief and sin, glow- 



154 BIBLE PICTURES. 

ing with immortal sunshine, and inexhaustible in its 
sources of delight ; but if Jesus were not there, it 
could be no heaven to a Christian. "Forever with 
the Lord" — "with Me in Paradise" — these are 
the words which unveil to faith its most satisfying 
object, and quicken hope to its loftiest flight. And 
how emphatically does Christ Himself speak of His 
perpetual presence in heaven, as constituting the 
principal felicity of His people, and their highest 
reward. In describing the final recompense of 
those who live for His cause, He sums it up by the 
single expressive statement, " Where I am, there 
shall my servant be." "I go to prepare a place for 
you, and will come again, and receive you to my- 
self, that where I am, there ye may be also." Com- 
panionship with Christ is thus held out to us as 
the very crown and climax of future blessedness — 
imparting to the inheritance of the saved its sweet- 
est enjoyment, and its noblest honor. Nor will this 
language appear too strong, if we consider what it 
is to dwell with Jesus in glory, and how much it 
involves. It is to be admitted into unbroken com- 
munion with Him who has delivered us from sin 
and death and hell ; to gaze, with unclouded eyes, 
on the beauty of His holiness ; to contemplate the 
perfections of His character, and the beneficence of 
his works, in their grandest manifestations ; to 
rejoice in the constant outgoings of His love ; and 



THE THIEF OX THE CEOSS. 155 

through eternity to draw from His fulness fresh sup- 
plies of wisdom, purity, and joy. He is the Foun- 
tain-He ad of all excellence, all triumph, all delight; 
and there is not a conceivable element of the 
heavenly state, which does not flow from His un- 
veiled presence. Oh, happy are they, and only 
they, who can say of that presence, " This is all my 
salvation, and all my desire ! " 

And how near at hand was the time when this 
promised bliss should be conferred ! " To-day shalt 
thou be with me in Paradise.'' The entrance into 
glory is not placed amid the distant scenes of the 
Judgment, after centuries of dreamless slumber, but 
is declared to be present and immediate. It is as 
if Christ had said to the suppliant beside Him, 
R Before the sun shall set that now hangs pale and 
lurid in yonder sky, and before the night shall 
cover with its shadows the earth from which we go, 
thy spirit, led by Mine, shall tread the far-off land 
where the blessed dwell." Thus is the general 
truth clearly brought out, that the passage of the 
soul from time to eternity is instantaneous . No inter- 
vening state, no period of dull and blank oblivion, 
enwraps for a season its conscious powers, and holds 
in abeyance its final destiny. Without the delay of 
a moment, the disembodied spirit enters the world 
of retribution. How cheering to the believer must 
be the thought, that soon as his eyes close upon 



156 BIBLE PICTURES. 

earth, they open upon heaven : that soon as the last 
breath is drawn, and the last pulse has ceased to 
beat, the soul wings its way to Paradise, and pass- 
ing through the golden doors, gazes on the nice of 
Christ ! You linger around the corpse ; but the 
spirit is with its Lord. You bedew with tears the 
broken casket ; but the jewel it enshrined is now 
sparkling on the breast of the Saviour. You follow 
the body to the grave ; -but the ethereal essence, 
which so lately animated it, has gone to join the 
ranks of the redeemed, and to feast at the banquet 
of immortality. Oh ! when the good are dying, 
and to earthly on lookers thought and feeling seem 
locked in unconsciousness, the silence and the insen- 
sibility arc but the stillness of the soul, as it listens 
to those words of loving welcome, whispered down 
to it from "The Better Land," "To-day shalt thou 
be with me in Paradise." . 

The narrative gives us no intimation of the man- 
ner in which this promise was received by the ex- 
piring convert. But it is easy to imagine the effect 
which it must have produced upon him. AYe can 
readily picture to ourselves his parched lips trem- 
bling with gratitude, his dim eye kindling, and his 
wan face lighting up with the glow of seraphic hope, 
as lie thought of the blissful portion so soon to be 
hi- own. lie lived to hear, amid the preternatural 
darkness of the ninth hour, the voice of his Master, 



THE THIEF OX THE CEOSS. 157 

utterinsr the shout of victory, "It is finished ! " and 
to see Him bow His head, and give up the ghost. 
And then he, too, went forth on Ms heavenward 
journey, and the Saviour and the saved met in their 
empyreal home. 

Hew rapid, in his case, was the work of mercy, 
how speedy its result ! In one day, he was enlight- 
ened, regenerated, pardoned, sanctified, conveyed 
to glory. The morning saw him a hardened crimi- 
nal : the evening saw him a saint. The morning 
saw him in chains : the evening saw him invested 
with the freedom of the sons of God. The morn- 
ing saw him writhing on a cross ; the evening saw 
him rejoicing in Paradise. The morning heard his 
first sigh of penitence : the evening heard his first 
hymn of praise. TVhen the rising sun looked on 
him, he was a degraded and brutal wretch, never 
lifting his thoughts above the dust in which he 
grovelled, foul with infamy, and about to close an 
ignominious life by an ignominious death. When 
the setting sun beheld him, he was a purified im- 
mortal, soaring on radiant pinions to the Mount of 
God. And there, in the vision of faith, we see him 
now, basking and exulting in his Redeemers pres- 
ence : while wondering angels point to him, and 
cry, "Is not this a brand plucked out of the burn- 
isg?" 

May we all follow him to that happy world ! The 
H 



158 BIBLE PICTURES. 

grace by which he was rescued is equally needful 
for ourselves. We, too, must seek shelter in Christ, 
and come under the power of His renewing Spirit 
— or perish for evermore. " He that believeth not 
shall be damned." An awful truth ! yet spoken in 
mercy ; for He said it who saved the thief on the 
cross. And He is as willing now, as then, to save 
the sinner who goes to Him for deliverance. The 
vile, the abandoned, the prodigal, the felon, the 
most lost to virtue and to hope — all the earth's out- 
cast family — dissimilar in circumstances, but alike 
in ruin — may draw nigh to His feet, and pour out 
their woes before Him, and feel the glance of His 
pitying eye, and hear from His lips the words of 
forgiveness, and find in His love peace here, and 
eternal redemption hereafter. Oh ! who, as he looks 
from the Cross of Calvary to the Throne of Inter- 
cession, and onward to the Judgment-Seat, where 
the endless state of all shall be decided, cries not 
from the depths of a yearning, trusting heart, "Lord, 
remember me ! " 




CHAPTER VHI. 

JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 

"The men of Nineveh shall rise in the judgment with 
this generation, and shall condemn it, because thet re- 
pented at the preaching of jonas," and behold a greater 
than Jonas is here." — Matthew xii. 41. 

(HE Gospel of Christ, when taken home to the 
heart in accordance with the design of its 
Author, is the most precious boon which the 
mercy of Heaven has ever conferred on man- 
kind. It raises the lost sons of earth from 
their natural state of sin and misery, absolves them 
from the sentence of Divine wrath, gives them un- 
speakable joys in this life, and endows them with 
the heritage of immortality in the life to come. But 
if it be neglected and spurned — if it be regarded 
with indifference or hostility instead of submission 
and love — all these blessed ends are frustrated ; 
and it becomes a source of heavier condemnation 
and of deeper woe. Thus an Apostle affirms of 
himself and of his fellow-laborers, that they were " a 
savor of life unto life in them that are saved, and of 
death unto death in them that perish." 

It was with the view of impressing this truth on 

159 



160 BIBLE PICTURES. 

those who rejected His ministry, and scorned the 
proffers of His grace, that our Lord uttered the dec- 
laration of the text. His words clearly teach the 
general doctrine that men are responsible to God 
for the use which they make of their religious privi- 
leges ; and that the misimprovement of these privi- 
leges will serve to swell their guilt, and to increase 
their punishment. 

In order to develop aud illustrate this idea, we 
propose to consider the character of Jonah, the na- 
ture of his preaching, and the manner in which it 
was received by the people of Nineveh ; and then 
to contrast with these the character and preaching 
of Christ, the reception He met from the Jews, and 
that which His Gospel still meets at the hands of 
i lignite men. 

Of the history of Jonah we know nothing beyond 
what is contained in the single prophetic book which 
bears his name. From the brief and incidental 
sketches which it presents, he appears to have fallen 
far short of that high moral excellence which gener- 
ally distinguished the ancient servants of God, and 
which seems essential to the office he bore. Not 
only did he manifest all the frailties and imperfec- 
tions incident to our nature even when regenerate ; 
but, superadded to these, he evinced a disobedient 
spirit, a want of reverence for the Divine authority, 
a waywardness of temper, and a self-seeking, which 



JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 161 

we should scarcely be prepared to expect in a pious 
man. We believe him to have been a child of God, 
and a true prophet ; but of all on whom the mantle 
of Inspiration fell, he was, beyond question, the 
least affected by its sanctifying influence. This 
feebleness of the gracious principle within him may 
have been partly owing to the peculiarities of his 
mental organization. Every step of his career 
shows us a mind constitutionally so morbid and 
irascible as to amount almost to insanity. His dis- 
position was dark and moody ; like a lake which 
mirrors in its waters the thunder-clouds that over- 
shadow it, and flash across its sullen waves a mo- 
mentary gleam. These characteristics will come 
out more distinctly, as we glance at the moral indi- 
cations respecting him which the narrative furnishes. 
He belonged to the Tribe of Zebulon, and lived 
about eight hnndred years before Christ, in the 
reign of the Second Jeroboam, king of Israel. At 
this period, Nineveh, the capital of the empire of 
Assyria, had reached the epoch of its highest power 
and splendor. It is described by ancient geogra- 
phers as one of the largest and most important cities 
which the world has ever seen. Situated on the 
eastern bank of the Tigris, in a wide and fertile 
plain, favored with a salubrious climate and un- 
equalled natural resources — from a few insignificant 
villages planted by colonists from Babylon, it grew 

14* 



162 BIBLE PICTURES. 

to be a mighty metropolis, outstripping the mother 
city in wealth and population ; enclosed by lofty 
and massive walls sixty miles in circuit ; filled with 
gorgeous palaces and crowded marts of traffic — the 
centre of oriental magnificence, and the seat of a 
dominion stretching from the Nile to the Indus, and 
from the Mediterranean to the shores of the Caspian 
and the Persian seas. Commerce, in two great 
streams — the one from Western Asia, the other 
from the realms of spices and gems in the far East — 
poured its riches into her bosom. Opulence brought 
in arts, luxury, and the refinements of high civiliza- 
tion ; while the military ambition of her kings con- 
stantly extended her domain by conquest, until she sat 
in her pomp and pride throned mistress of the world. 
But, as usually happens in human history, material 
prosperity had been followed by gross corruption 
of morals, and the wickedness of the inhabitants 
had gone up to heaven. Provoked by their sins, 
the sovereign Ruler alike of Jew and of pagan, of 
individuals and of nations, resolved to vindicate His 
authority, and announce to the guilty city the ven- 
geance which He held in store for it. And this 
embassy of wrath He commanded Jonah to fulfil. 

Here, however, we are met, in the outset, by a 
startling exhibition of the contumacious and refrac- 
tory spirit with which the prophet was imbued. He 
ventured to disobey the summons of Jehovah. 



JONAS, AND THE GREATER TRAN JONAS. 163 



TThat motive incited hiin to a procedure so daring, 
we have no means of ascertaining with any degree 
of definiteness. It could not have been pity for the 
people of Nineveh, and an unwillingness to be the 
messenger of their doom, since his subsequent con- 
duct evinced very little solicitude for their safety. 
Perhaps he shrunk from the labor of so long and 
difficult a journey. He dreaded, it may be, that he 
should fall a victim to the fury of the multitude 
incensed by so terrible a denunciation. Possibly, 
too, he thought it derogatory to him as a Jew, and 
a worshipper of the true God, to officiate amongst 
idolaters, and mingle with a foreign and hostile race. 
Or, as his own confession would seem to imply, he 
feared that the doomed city might repent, and that 
God would thus be meved to spare it; and so, in 
foretelling its overthrow, he should expose himself 
to the reproach of having uttered a false prediction. 
For these, or other reasons equally unworthy, he 
refused to comply with the Divine requirement. 
But he was ill at ease. By clay and by night, at 
home and abroad, in solitude and in public, the in- 
exorable mandate sounded ever in his ears, " Arise, 
go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it." 
He could not silence the unwelcome voice. He 
could not shut it out, nor thrust aside its never- 
ceasing remonstrance. In the hope, therefore, of 
escaping from the presence of God, and from the 



1G4 BIBLE PICTURES. 

sense of violated obligation which continually 

haunted and tortured hiin, he determined to aban- 
don his native land, and flee to some remote spot, 
where he might forget conscience, and be at peace. 
With this intent he went down to Joppa, and 
embarked in a ship for Tarshish, a celebrated Phoe- 
nician colony in Spain, known in the times of the 
Romans by the name of Tartessus. He seems to 
have taken this step under the supposition that by 
thus putting the whole Mediterranean sea between 
him and the scenes of his former life, he should get 
as far as possible from God, from duty, and from 
Nineveh. Infatuated man ! Did he imagine that 
the Omnipresent was nowhere but in Israel, or that 
His authority and His power could be 'evaded by a 
change of place ? Apparently he thought so; for, 
having secured his passage, he descended into the 
sides of the ship, and there, as if safely hidden at 
last from the Eternal Eye, quietly resigned himself 
to slumber. But the Almighty was on the sea as 
well as on the hills of Zebulon : and His arm lifted 
up the waves, and threatened to ingulf the stagger- 
ing vessel. The mariners in their affright cried 
every one to his god, and cast forth their merchan- 
dise into the deep. It was an awful hour — the 
tempest careering over the waters — the winds 
howling through the creaking cordage — the strained 
ship groaning in every timber — strong men par- 



JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 165 

alyzed with terror, and expecting every moment to 
be swallowed up in the abyss. 

But where was Jonah during all this fearful scene? 
Down in the hold, asleep ! What monstrous insen- 
sibility must have seized him ! Well might the 
shipmaster as he awoke him say, " What meanest 
thou, O sleeper?" In haste he is conducted on 
deck. There the lot, heaven-guided, points him 
out as the culprit against whom Heaven's wrath is 
directed. And now, as he looks forth on the wild 
uproar, and comprehends the imminence of the 
peril, remorse and contrition seem roused at length 
in his stubborn heart. The prayers which he hears 
the despairing sailors offer to their dumb deities 
that cannot save, remind him of the living and all- 
powerful One, from whose presence he has sought 
to flee. The spirit of prophecy, dormant in the 
days of his rebellion, comes rushing over his soul. 
He confesses his sin ; acknowledges himself a ser- 
vant of the God of heaven, and a fugitive from His 
commands ; and declares that as his presence in the 
ship had caused the storm, so nothing but the cast- 
ing of him into the sea could allay it. We here 
perceive the only alleviating feature in the recorded 
conduct of Jonah — the solitary exhibition of manly 
dignity and true nobleness of soul which the narra- 
tive attributes to him. Smitten with compunction 
in view of the fatal consequences of his course, he 



166 BIBLE PICTURES, 

proposes that his own death should make atonement, 
and save the innnocent lives which his folly had 
imperilled. But the crew, though shocked at the 
revelation of his guilt, are unwilling to surrender 
him to the rage of the billows. With a compassion 
strongly in contrast with the hard-heartedness which 
he afterwards displayed, these heathen Phoenicians 
employ every means in their power to preserve, 
aloug with themselves, a prophet of Israel's God, 
whose disobedience had brought them into such 
extremity of danger. Moreover, the dread might 
of this unknown God, as manifested in the war of 
the elements around them, fills them with awe, and 
conspires with natural pity to restrain them from 
any act of violence to His servant. But no mortal 
strength or skill can avail to save the ship with 
Jonah on board. And after battling against the 
increasing fury of the tempest till all hope is gone, 
they are compelled reluctantly to commit the now 
penitent offender to the yawning deep. 

Instantly the winds subside, and the sea grows 
calm. With grateful hymns and sacrifices the 
mariners pursue their voyage ; while the prophet 
goes down into the depths, where only the eye of 
the All-seeing can follow him. But the Hand that 
is strong to punish, is equally strong to deliver. 
A miraculous refuge awaits him in the bowels of 
" a great fish " which God has prepared to receive 



JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 167 

him. From that living tomb his prayer comes up 
into the ear of the Ever-Merciful ; and on the fourth 
day he is thrown out upon the dry land. But it is 
only to hear again the same imperative behest. 
" Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach 
against it the preaching that I bid thee." No longer 
daring to disobey, he goes to Nineveh — prophesies 
against it — and then retires without the city to 
await its doom. 

And here his course of action develops still darker 
qualities than any we have yet traced. He shows 
himself cruel, malignant, unmoved by human suffer- 
ing — the slave of a selfishness so intense as to be 
well-nigh incredible. When God accepted the 
humble repentance of Nineveh, and, in answer to 
the supplications of its inhabitants, withheld the 
threatened blow, " it displeased Jonah exceedingly, 
and he was very angry." "And he prayed, and 
said, O Lord, was not this my saying when I was 
yet in my country ? Therefore I fled before unto 
Tarshish ; for I knew Thee, that Thou art a gracious 
God, and merciful, and slow to anger, and of great 
kindness, and repentest Thed|§£ the evil." What a 
state of mind is here indicated W|How unbecoming 
in one set apart to proclaim the univeSal Father, 
and teach the world His love ! How alien from 
that religion whose pervading spirit is good-will to 
men ! He gave way to the most violent envy and 



168 BIBLE PICTURES. 

rage, because the Almighty did not lay waste with 
the sword, or desolate with pestilence, or swallow 
up by an earthquake, or consume with fire from 
heaven, a huge and crowded metropolis, among 
whose population were a hundred and twenty thou- 
sand infants that had committed no sin. And what 
reason did he assign for such malevolence? Why, 
he had foretold the destruction of Nineveh ; and 
hence, if it were spared, he might incur the danger 
of being accounted a false prophet. The hatred 
which, as an Israelite, he doubtless felt toward the 
Assyrians, the enemies and oppressors of his na- 
tion, may have combined with this overweening 
jealousy for his own reputation, and served to ren- 
der it more exorbitant and engrossing. On grounds 
like these, he was willing, nay eager, that this im- 
mense multitude of men in their strength, women 
in their beauty, children in their innocence, should 
perish by an untimely death, and be 'hurried unpre- 
pared into eternity. No sympathy for the expected 
sufferers seems to have visited his soul. Day after 
day he sat in the shadow of his booth on the east 
side of the city, watching with longing eyes for the 
consummation of his prophecy. And when the 
period set for its fulfilment had passed, and he saw 
that the people of Nineveh were not then to die, he 
was so carried away with vexation, that he prayed 



JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 1G9 

to die himself, and said that be did well to be angry 
even unto death. 

Such was the character of Jonah — a character 
which, for the honor of humanity, we believe could 
have been produced only by the spirit of distorted 
Judaism, acting on the bitterness of a morose and 
misanthropic nature. 

From this survey of his personal defects, we pass 
to consider his preaching. It was not attested by 
miracles, as were the messages of many of the other 
prophets. There is no record that he performed 
auy mighty work to demonstrate his Divine mission. 
No voice from heaven, no descending minister of 
light, no exhibition of supernatural power, bore 
witness to his appointment from on high. At least, 
nothing of this kind would seem to have occurred 
within the observation of those to whom he was 
sent. The events which befell him on the voyage 
to Tarshish were undoubtedly miraculous ; but they 
took place at so great a distance from Nineveh, that 
there is no reason to suppose its inhabitants had 
any knowledge of them. So far as they were con- 
cerned, his communication apparently rested on no 
authority but his own. He came alone — unher- 
alded, unattended. There was nothing imposing 
or remarkable in his appearance. He was only a 
plain, unpretending traveller ; and all the evidence 
he gave that his prophecy would be fulfilled, was 
15 



170 BIBLE PICTURES. 

his own simple statement that God had sent him to 
announce the destruction of Nineveh. In these cir- 
cumstances, would it have been strange had his 
prediction been regarded as the raving of insanity ? 
Should a person, with no more outward marks of 
celestial authority, proclaim through the streets of 
New York or Boston, that, within a given time, it 
would be suuk by an earthquake, would he not at 
once be deemed a madman, and be treated as such? 
The preaching of Jonah consisted wholly of de- 
nunciation. Its only theme was the menace of total 
and inevitable ruin. No notes of mercy were min- 
gled with the stern proclamation of wrath. There 
was no intimation that the sins of those to whom it 
was addressed would be pardoned even if they 
repented. No directions were given for escaping 
the threatened doom ; nor was there the slightest 
hint or implication that to escape it was possible. 
"Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be destroyed," 
was the single and unqualified announcement. "Yet 
forty clays, and Nineveh shall be destroyed," was 
the whole of this brief but awful sermon. And as 
the harsh, relentless preacher entered the gates of 
the city, and passed along its thronged and busy 
thoroughfares, he repeated ever his fearful text, 
sounding it in the cars of high and low, prince and 
beggar; as he met the bustling merchant, the votary 
of pleasure, and the cavalcades of the noble. Who, 



JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 171 

in our day, would listen to a teacher of religion that 
should denounce speedy and unavoidable perdition 
on every one he met, whatever the place or occa- 
sion, and whatever the character of the persons he 
addressed ? Would not all regard him as a fierce 
and malignant fanatic? 

But what was the conduct of the men of Nineveh ? 
On the reception of this abrupt and offensive mes- 
sage, did they revile or insult the prophet? Did 
they gather round him in idle curiosity ; or con- 
temptuously point him out to their companions as 
a crazed and wandering enthusiast ? Did they scoff 
at his warning, and treat his mission with scorn? 
Provoked at length by his pertinacity, did they 
arrest him as a disturber of the peace of their city 
— a bitter and malevolent Jew, who, in prophesy- 
ing their destruction, merely gave vent to his own 
malice? No, "they repented at the preaching of 
Jonas." Even at this preaching, so imperfect, so 
unauthenticated, so menacing and repulsive, so 
fraught - with elements calculated to diminish its 
credit and influence, they repented. K The people 
of Nineveh believed God." Though before sunk in 
idolatry and sin, forgetful of the Almighty, and 
dreaming only of safety and pleasure, their si tim- 
bers were now broken. A deep conviction was 
wrought in their minds that the words to which 
they listened came from Jehovah. They saw the 



BIZLE PICTTTEES. 

enormitj- of their guilt, and felt assured that, with- 
out immediate and thorough reformation, the pre- 
dicted judgment would be speedily inflicted. TL 
therefore, humbled tba a before the Lord; 

* and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from 
the _ -: of them even to the J^nd the 

king himself came down from his throne, and laid 
aside his robes, and covered himself with sackcloth, 
and sat in ashes, and published a decree throughout 

reh, that neither man nor beast should t 
anything, nor feed, nor drink water ; but be covered 
with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God, and 
turn every one from his evil way, and from the vio- 
lence that was in his hands; for, peradventure, 
God would thus repent, and turn from His nerce 
anger and They had, indeed, no 

promise or even intimation that their supplications 
would be of any avail. The doom announced by 
the prophet was positive and unconditional, 
they remembered the merciful character of the 
Most High ; and, instead of abandoning themselves 
utterly to despair, sought to avert I leasure 

by penitence, humiliation, and amendment of 

This repentance of an entire people is one of the 
most singular events in sacred history. From the 
brevity with which it is narrate aderfulness 

may escape our notice. We need to pause ove: 

in thought to the dark and corrupt age 



AETD THE GREATER THAX JONAS. 170 

of the world in which it took place, to recall all its 
circumstances, and ponder the facts which must have 
conspired to render its occurrence improbable, in 
order to reach a just conception of its surprising 
character. Picture to yourselves a heathen city. 
larger in extent, if not in population, than London 
or Paris — the capital of a mighty empire — the 
home of commercial enterprise, and of military 
power. Imagine it decorated with numerous mag- 
nificent structures — lofty towers — the mansions of 
the great — costly nines and temples dedicated to 
Baal and Ashtoreth. On all sides you see the to- 
kens of a wide-spread and unbridled worldliness. 
Artisans are plying their trades, merchants their 
'ventures. The bazaars are full : buyers and sell- 
ers. The streets are crowded with passengers — 
here a festive procession — there battalions march- 
ing in the pride of glorious war — yonder, the 
trains uf satraps and viceroys from the provinces, 
bearing tribute to Assyria's king. Everywhere y . a 
perceive the presence of a civilization as gorgeous 
as it is sensual and wicked. Everywhere there is 
carelessness, revelry, debauchery, violence, crime ; 
while over all dominates the foul Sun-TVorship of 
the East, whose deity was lust, whose rites were 
pollution. 

talking amidst these thoughtless multitudes, you 
observe a plain old man. whose locks and beard are 
is* 



174 BIBLE PICTURES. 

white as snow. His look and mien are unimpres- 
sive ; his garments coarse and stained with dust as 
from long travel. What startles yonder group of 
pleasure-seekers ? There are no portents in the sky 
— no tremblings in the earth — no invading hosts at 
the gates. The old man is speaking. He says the 
proud and bloody city, with all its splendor and 
luxury, is reserved for a swift and terrible ven- 
geance. Why should they be disturbed? He says 
this in the name of the God of Israel — a Divinity 
they do not worship, of whom they have never 
heard, or heard only to despise, as connected with 
a nation which they have often defeated and rav- 
aged. But the message, destitute as it is of exter- 
nal support, is believed. It spreads from lip to lip, 
from street to street, from one quarter of the city to 
another — carrying fear and dismay to all hearts, 
sobering the giddy throngs, stilling the noise of 
bacchanalian riot, arresting the voluptuary and the 
murderer in the \evy commission of their guilty 
deeds. At length it reaches the palace, and through 
the cordon of guards and eunuchs penetrates to the 
chamber of the monarch. He, too, receives it with 
the same mysterious faith. Overwhelmed by a con- 
viction of its truth, he comes down from his throne, 
lays away his crown, puts off his royal robes, clothes 
himself in the vesture of woe, and proclaims uni- 
versal humiliation and prayer. The terrified inhab- 



JONAS, AXD THE GREATER THAN JOXAS. 175 

itants respond to the edict. All business ceases. 
Every implement is laid aside. The voice of mirth 
and the din of traffic are hushed ; and throughout 
all ranks and classes no sound is heard but the cry 
of a whole people confessing its sins, and imploring 
mercy from Him who alone can save. What a sub- 
lime spectacle ! How strange and how rare ! Could 
sudden panic have so bowed these idolaters before 
the God of heaven ? The narrative refutes the sup- 
position. Their contrition was evidently sincere, 
for God accepted it, and Christ in the text recog- 
nizes its genuineness. Nor was it transient. Its 
influence lived during the life of that generation. 
And it was not till the next generation that impiety 
resumed its reign, and proving incorrigible to the 
warnings of a later prophet, drew clown the long- 
suspended blow. A fact so striking, so unique in 
the annals of the Gentile world, could have been 
produced only by the direct power of the One Father, 
who holds the hearts of all men in His hand, and 
whose Spirit can work alike in every age, and under 
every form of social development. 

Let us now bring into contrast with the part of 
our subject that has been presented, the character 
and the preaching of Christ, and the treatment which 
He received, and which He still receives, from 
those whom He came to redeem. Our Lord is un- 
questionably speaking of Himself when, as a reproach 



176 BIBLE PICTURES. 

to the Jews for their unbelief and impenitence, He 
tells them that they were favored with the personal 
instructions of one greater than Jonas. 

To compare the blessed Redeemer with this weak 
and capricious prophet is as absurd as it is irrev- 
erent. It is like comparing the noon-day glories of 
the sun with the pale glimmer of a marsh-light. It 
is more — it is comparing the Infinite with the finite. 
The prophet was but a man, and a man in many 
respects most imperfect. Christ is God as well as 
man, possessing, in union with His human nature, 
all the attributes of Divinity. In Him all created 
and uncreated excellences combine. He is exalted 
far above all principality and power — King of 
kings, and Lord of lords. He is "the Everlasting 
Father " — " the Prince of Peace " — the " true God 
and Eternal Life" — "the Alpha and Omega, the 
Beginning and the End, which is, and was, and is 
to come, the Almighty." By Him the universe 
rose into being ; by Him it is upheld and governed. 
Him the elements obey. Him the celestial legions 
adore. Before His feet seraphs cast their crowns, 
and gaze with awe upon His glory. He is the 
Sovereign of angels and men — "God over all, 
blessed forever." 

The prophet's departures from rectitude were 
numerous and flagrant. The life of Jesus on earth 
was free from every stain. Even His most preju- 



JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 177 

diced opposers could iiiid nothing against Him. 
He was holy, harmless, undefilecl, and separate 
from sinners. The prophet was guilty of disobe- 
dience to the Divine command. The language of 
Christ was, "Lo, I come; in the volume of the 
book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O 
my God ! " He became obedient unto death, even 
the death of the cross. The prophet was petulant 
and severe ; Christ gentle and forbearing. When 
reviled, He reviled not again. He gave His back to 
the smiter, and His cheek to him that plucked off 
the hair. He returned blessing for cursing, prayer 
for railing, forgiveness for injury. The prophet 
was unfeeling and cruel, insomuch that he preferred 
to see myriads of his fellow-beings swept away by 
sudden death, rather than forego the indulgence of 
his own selfish passions. But Christ so loved the 
world, that He left the throne of heaven, and took 
upon Him the form of a servant, and made Himself 
of no reputation, that He might restore men to holi- 
ness and God. To expiate human guilt, and open 
the way of life to the outcast and the condemned, 
He calmly bore indignity and scorn, and submitted, 
without a murmur, to the shame and agony of cru- 
cifixion. Had His spirit been like that of Jonah, 
He would have summoned the universe to attest 
His innocence. He would have collected all the 
angels throughout His boundless dominions to resist 



178 BIBLE PICTUBES. 

His murderers ; or, by one omnipotent word, have, 
blasted them into nothingness. But no ! such was 
His compassion for sinners, that He cheerfully en- 
dured for their redemption all that the malice of 
earth and hell could inflict. Survey His whole his- 
tory. Follow Him from His lowly birth in a man- 
ger to His mournful exit on Calvary, and you will 
witness at every step the most touching displays of 
love to the human race. How attractive, how per- 
fect was the character of Christ ! 

His preaching, also, was in the highest degree 
fitted to excite attention, and to produce belief. 
There was given to it every possible attestation 
which Heaven could furnish. Type, symbol, vision, 
prophecy, all combined to foreshow His coming. 
His advent was announced by angels, hymning the 
tidings down to earth. God Himself declared Him 
to be His "Beloved Son, in whom He was well 
pleased." All the resources of Infinite Power were 
placed in His hands. He commanded the winds 
and the waves, and they obeyed Him. He cured 
the most inveterate diseases by a word. Demons 
bowed to His control, and came forth at His bid- 
ding from the bodies of the possessed. At His 
voice, the dead rose up from their graves. Angels 
from above ministered to Him. Hell from beneath, 
acknowledged His Bway. Devils in their seats of 
darkness trembled at His name. The sea, the 



JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 179 

earth, the air, paid Him homage. The whole crea- 
tion, animate and inanimate, owned Him as -its 
Lord, and gave witness to His words. A message, 
supported by such irresistible evidence of its Divine 
authority, could not fail, it would seem, of securing 
universal regard. 

The subjects embraced in this message are, more- 
over, wonderfully suited to awaken the interest of 
men. Pardon and eternal life are the themes on 
which it dwells. The Gospel of Christ is emphat- 
ically glad tidings. It discloses truths of infinite 
importance to human welfare. It teaches that God 
sent His Son into the world, not to condemn it, but 
that, through Him, the world might be saved. It 
opens to the ruined children of earth a way of escape 
from guilt and misery. It shows us that we are all 
by nature under the curse of the law, and exposed 
to everlasting punishment ; but that deliverance is 
proffered to us through the grace of Jesus Christ, 
who has become the Propitiation for our sins. It 
contains ample directions concerning the way of 
salvation, marking out the path to heaven so plainly 
that none but the wilfully blind can mistake it. 
" Eepent, and be converted, that your sins may be 
blotted out." "Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, 
and thou shalt be saved." These are its simple and 
unequivocal instructions. And these instructions it 
enforces ■ by appeals and motives most tender and 



180 BIBLE PICTURES. 

impressive. " Come unto me all ye that labor and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." "Ho ! 
every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters ; 
and he that hath no money, let him come, and 
buy wine and milk without money and without 
price." It promises forgiveness, acceptance with 
God, support in affliction, hope in death, and glory 
in heaven, to all who embrace its overtures. Thus 
is it throughout a proclamation of Mercy, speaking 
peace to the penitent, and denouncing wrath only 
on those who obstinately continue in unbelief. It 
might well be supposed that a Gospel so full of 
blessings, so adapted to the condition of man, so 
able to meet all his wants for time and for eternity, 
must have been hailed with one wide burst of thank- 
fulness and joy. 

But what was the real fact? Did the Jews, to 
whom the message of Christ was first delivered, 
receive Him gladly ? Were they convinced by His 
miracles that He was the Son of God ? Were they 
moved by His teachings and His works to welcome 
Him as their Saviour ? Alas ! far different was the 
reception which He met at their hands. Instead of 
believing on Him, they shut their eyes to all the 
proofs of His Messiahship, derided His claims, re- 
jected His doctrines, cast from them the eternal life 
which He offered, and consummated their guilt by 
nailing Him to the cross. Vain to them Were the 



JONAS, AND THE GREATER THAN JONAS. 181 

attractive beauties of His character ; vain the im- 
portance and tenderness of His message ; vain the 
breathings of His compassion ; vain His words of 
love ; vain His deeds of almighty power. They 
resisted all argument, all admonition, all entreaty ; 
and by imbruing their hands in His blood, entailed 
on themselves wandering and desolation in this 
world, and in the world to come an eternity of 
torment. With what emphasis, then, might our 
Lord declare to them that the men of Nineveh, who 
had repented under light far less clear, and amidst 
privileges incomparably inferior, would rise up in 
the judgment to condemn their aggravated stupidity 
and hardness of heart ! 

The principle laid down by our Divine Teacher, 
applies with even more force to our own times, 
and to the dwellers in Christian lands. There is 
amongst us One greater than Jonas. True it is, 
that we are not permitted, like the Jews, to behold 
the Son of Gdd face to face. We hear not from 
His own lips the words of invitation and of warning. 
But though we see Him not, He is here — here in 
these Lively Oracles in which His discourses are 
recorded — here in the messages which He has com- 
missioned His heralds to proclaim — here by that 
Holy Spirit whom He has sent to give efficacy to 
His truth, and cany forward His cause on earth. 
We have every possible evidence of the heavenly 

16 



182 bible PicrrzEs. 

origin of His Gospel, and every conceivable advan- 
tage for making its blessings our own. We have 
line upon line, precept upon precept. We are 
taught by mercies, taught by judgments, taught by 
sermons, taught by example, taught in public aud 
in private, taught by our own consciences, and by 
outward appeals. Every Sabbath Christ preaches 
to us. Every day He meets us with instruction 
and reproof. Wherever we are, whatever we do, 
He is constantly by our side, plying us with the 
solemn command. "Follow Me.*' 

Yet are there not many among us who have 
never obeyed His voice, and surrendered their 
hearts to His grace? In defiance of ail the admoni- 
tions we haw- i< are we not still impenitent 
and worldly? If. then, we continue to disregard 
the mercy of Christ, and die unconverted and un- 
pardoned, will nut the men who repented at the 
preaching of Jonas, rise up as witn _ tins! us 
for refusing to listen to the Greater than Jon 

How solemn the thought, that when we stand 
ire the great tribunal, if we stand there without 
an interest in the blood of Atonement, those who 
1 long centuries ago will start up from forgotten 
to testify against us ! "The men of Nineveh 
shall rise in the judgment with Leration" — 

ration of to-day — I _ gen- 

eration — this Ghrist-despifi aeration — this 



JONAS, AXD THE GEE ATE E THAN JONAS. 183 

generation of worldlings raving after gold, but care- 
less of heaven. Oh, hearken to the words of Jesus ! 
Eepent and believe the Gospel. Then, in the day 
of decision, the Judge Himself will witness in your 
favor, and pronounce on you the sentence of acquit- 
tal and salvation. 




CHAPTER IX. 

HEAVEN'S JOY OVER THE SAVED. 

"There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over 
one sinner that repenteth. " — Luke xv. 10. 

CHILD lost in the forest ! " Such was the 
cry which startled the inhabitants of a re- 
mote and thinly-peopled district in the wil- 
derness. On a bright summer morning, a 
little boy belonging to a family residing in 
the outskirts of the settlement, left his home to 
gather flowers along the banks of a neighboring 
stream. Absorbed in his sport, and enticed on, 
now by a bed of cowslips, and now by a hillock 
blushing with violets, he strayed farther and farther, 
heedless of the distance, until he had passed beyond 
the clearing into the deep, pathless woods that envi- 
roned it. Here he soon became completely bewil- 
dered, and, in his fruitless endeavors to retrace his 
steps, wandered away among the wild solitudes that 
stretched unbroken to the distant mountains. 

At noon his parents missed him ; yet, as he was 
often thus absent, the circumstance occasioned no 
special concern. But when the shadows of evening 

184 



heaven's joy over the saved. 155 

began to settle upon the valleys, they grew anxious. 
and went forth to seek him. Unable to discover 
him anywhere in the open ground, they were forced 
to admit the agonizing fact that he was lost in the 
tangled depths of the forest. The alarm was given. 
and every neighbor came at the summons. After a 
search of three days the child was found, faint and 
famished, and well-nigh dead with weariness and 
terror. With songs and shouts they bore him back 
in them arms, swift runners going before, and cry- 
ing. "Fcutxd, Fouxd \ " The entire hamlet was 
:1 by the tidings, and broke forth into thanks- 
givings. All participated in the happiness of the 
parents : and though there were a hundred children 
in the settlement, more joy was felt that night over 
the one little wanderer rescued from death, than 
over the ninety and nine that had been exposed to 
no danger. 

This touching incident well illustrates what Christ 
tells us in the text respecting the joy of angels over 
the penitent. To fallen creatures like ourselves, 
with all the powers of earth and Hell leagued to 
destroy us. how full of comfort is the declaration 
that the hierarchies of heaven sympathize in our 
danger, and exult in 0m 1 deliverance ! How assur- 
ing is it to know, on the word of the Faithful One, 
that celestial spirits feel a compassionate interest in 
the salvation of our sinful race ; that they watch with 
16* 



186 BIBLE PICTURES. 

benevolent solicitude the issue of our probation ; and 
that every instance of conversion to God sends a 
thrill of rapture through all the ranks of the blessed ! 
Nor is this announcement less wonderful than it is 
cheering. That those glorious intelligences which' 
compose the retinue of Jehovah, bask in the light 
of His countenance, and drink immortal bliss at the 
Fountain-Head of all felicity, should bestow any 
attention upon us, the polluted children of men ; 
and, especially, that their happiness should be in- 
creased by the increase of ours, would appear so 
improbable to human reason, that we might well 
deem it the beautiful day-dream of enthusiasm, 
were it not revealed by that Omniscient Saviour 
who is the Lord of the invisible world, who is per- 
fectly acquainted with the feelings of its inhabitants, 
and who is too wise to err, too good to deceive us, 
in the representation which lie has given of their 
character. 

Kesting the fact, therefore, on the authority of 
Him who, by way of eminence, is denominated 
"the Truth," let us endeavor to set forth, so far as 
we are able to discover them, the reasons which 
render the repentance of a sinner an occasion of joy 
to angels. 

Angels rejoice when a sinner repents, because an 
enemy of the Divine Government is then reconciled 
to it. From Scripture and from observation alike, 



heaven's joy over the saved. 187 

we learn that vast multitudes of the rational crea- 
tures of God are in a state of rebellion against Him. 
Once, indeed, this appalling fact had no existence. 
In the remote ages of a past eternity, all worlds and 
all beings yielded a cordial submission to His will. 
The Powers and Principalities of Heaven, the Cheru- 
bim and Seraphim that filled His court and minis- 
tered before Him, poured forth, from bosoms unsul- 
lied by guilt and untouched by sorrow, the homage 
of supreme devotion. Every planet that wheeled 
through infinitude was vocal with the praise and 
radiant with the love of Him who hung it on its axle. 
The whole creation was one immense altar, from 
whose every part the ceaseless incense of gratitude 
and adoration ascended to its Maker and Governor. 
But this scene of universal peace and holiness 
Satan disturbed. Occupying the rank of a high 
archangel, he became, as Eevelation informs us, in- 
flated with pride, threw off his allegiance to the 
Blessed and Only Potentate, and, for aspiring to the 
dominion of the skies, w T as hurled into the abyss of 
night. Nor did he fall alone. "The angels that 
kept not their first estate " — the partners and abet- 
tors of his conspiracy — were involved in the same 
fearful ruin. Under the auspices of these revolted 
spirits sin commenced its reign ; and ever since it 
has waged relentless war against the supremacy of 
God, and toiled, with insatiate malignity, to blight 



188 BIBLE PICTURES. 

all that is fair and pure in the universe. Whether 
it has effected a lodgment in any other province of 
Jehovah's empire, we know not ; but in that which 
we inhabit its devastations have been wide-spread 
and terrific. It has alienated the whole family of 
man from their rightful Sovereign, and filled the 
earth with disorder, misery and death. 

But as here has been the field of its triumph, so 
here also shall be the field of its overthrow. God 
has appointed His Son to " destroy the works of the 
devil," and reduce this apostate world into obedi- 
ence to His law. And this commission the victori- 
ous Saviour is hoav fulfilling. He has shed His 
blood to satisfy Divine Justice, to expiate trans- 
gression, and unlock the fountains of Mercy to the 
penitent and believing. And to give effect to this 
wonderful provision of redeeming Love, He is caus- 
ing it to be proclaimed throughout all lands, sending 
down His Spirit to dispose the hearts of men to ac- 
cept it, and putting forth the energy of His truth 
and grace to vanquish sin, and erect on its demol- 
ished throne the kingdom of perfect and universal 
righteousness. Our world has thus become the thea- 
tre of a mighty moral conflict. The antagonistic pow- 
ers of Light and Darkness have here met to decide 
the momentous question whether the cause of Heaven 
or of Hell shall prevail ; whether the rights of infi- 
nite Rectitude and Majesty shall be maintained, or be 



heaven's jot over the saved. 189 

surrendered to the proud demands of a selfish, dis- 
loyal world. 

Now, between these contending forces repentance 
forms the separating line. It is the boundary which 
divides a state of allegiance to God from a state of 
insubordination to Him. It is the peculiar livery of 
the redeemed — the badge that distinguishes the 
friends of Jehovah from His enemies. They who 
truly exercise it have bowed, with cheerful and un- 
reserved subjection, to the sceptre of the King of 
kings ; while, on the other hand, all the impenitent, 
whatever may be their external character, are in 
heart opposed to God, and ranged beneath the fell 
standard of revolt. Eepentance is the act by which 
the transgressor detaches himself from the service 
of sin, comes out from the ranks of its votaries, 
lays down the black flag of rebellion at the foot of 
the Cross, and enlists for time and for eternity 
under the white banner of Peace and Holiness and 
Love. With sincere contrition he abhors and re- 
nounces the iniquities of his past' life ; assents to 
the justice of his condemnation ; acknowledges the 
equity of the Divine law in all the strictness of its 
precepts, and in all the solemnity of its sanctions ; 
embraces the pardon offered in the Gospel as a free 
and unmerited favor, and willingly consecrates him- 
self to the obedience of faith. From that moment, 
he makes a transition from death to life spiritual and 



: ; bible picmi k 

eternal. From that moment, he begins to act from 
new motives, in accordance with new principles, in 
pursuit of new ends. From that moment, Satan 
loses a vassal, and God reclaims a subj- 

Considered in this poic: : view, such an event, 
it is obvious, must afford unspeakable joy to the 
heavenly hosts. Ir brings a new servant to their 
Lord. It is the accession of a new individual to 
that holy kingdom, of which God and B rist 

are the Head. The interests of this kingdom are to 
them infinitely precious. They feel unmingled com- 
eney in the rectitude of its principles, in the 

- lorn of its arrangements, in the benevolence of 
• . - : and regard it as the imperative duty 
of even- rational being to venerate and obey its 
requirements. To aid in its advancement is the 
object of their earnest desire and of their i:. 
efforts. They know that just in proportion as the 
sphere of its influe: :ae honor of Je- 

hovah and the welfare of II i catures 

will be promoted. They see tL Eter- 

nal Throne, and the happiness of unnumbered worlds, 
identified with it. And they look forward, with 

_ r expectation, to the period when its universal 
id shall diffuse light and purity and bliss 
all the territories of the I _rh. 

rtaining such views of the glory of that reign 

grace which God has established through His 



HEAVEX'S JOY OVER THE SAVED. 191 

Son, must they not contemplate with intense delight 
every instance in which a repentant soul surrenders 
to it, and conforms to its laws? V\ nen an earthly 
monarch sends out his armies to subdue an insur- 
gent province, with what transport do his faithful 
subjects at home hear of the success of the expedi- 
tion ! As tidings arrive, that one detachment after 
another of the rebel faction is submitting to their 
prince, and one strong position after another falling 
before his forces, how does the very ecstasy of exul- 
tation thrill and convulse the realm ! Similar, though 
iniinitely more pure and elevated, is the rapture 
which pervades the bosoms of the blessed spirits 
above at the repentance of sinners upon earth. 
And these raptures will continue to be felt with in- 
creasing frequency and power, as the triumphs of 
the Cross thicken and multiply, and the Eedeemer 
goes forth in the greatness of His strength, conquer- 
ing and to conquer, until all nations .-hall receive 
Him as their King : and " Victory ! Victory ! " 
shall resound from earth to heaven, and be echoed 
back from heaven to earth. 

Angels rejoice when a sinner repents, because it 
affords a new display of the glory of God in Hedemp- 
tion. To the inhabitants of heaven, the character of 
Jehovah is the subject of unceasing study and delight. 
He is the centre of their thoughts, their affections, 
their worship. They dwell with concentrated and 



192 BIBLE PICTURES. 

ravished attention on the exhibitions which He is 
continually making of His attributes ; and as one 
perfection after another is developed and brought 
into action, or set forth in new and more command- 
ing lights, th^ir bosoms expand with fresh and aug- 
mented rapture. Thus, though from the first mo- 
ment of their being they had been the possessors of 
pure and consummate happiness, yet when God ex- 
erted His power in the work of creation ; when He 
garnished the firmament with shining worlds, and 
hung the earth on its axle, adorned it with beauty, 
and stored it with all that could render it the fit 
abode of men — " the morning stars sang together, 
and all the sons of God shouted for joy," at this new 
manifestation of the resources of infinite Wisdom 
and Omnipotence. In like manner, they ponder the 
developments of Providence, and trace the progres- 
sive unfolding of that system of government which 
God administers over the world ; and, as in the 
course of events it is presented in fuller and more 
interesting points of view ; as its mysteries are 
solved, and its seeming inconsistencies cleared up ; 
as order and harmony come forth from apparent 
confusion, and benevolence and wisdom arc seen 
in every appointment — their admiration and their 
bliss are constantly increased. 

But it is in the scheme of Redeeming Grace, that 
they most clearly perceive and most reverently 



heaven's joy over the saved. 193 

adore the perfections of the Godhead. The apos- 
tasy, there can be no doubt, spread amazement and 
horror through all the ranks of angelic existence. 
They must have paused with wonder and awe amid 
their seraphic hymns, and hung silent over their 
harps, to see what line of conduct the Holy and Just 
One would pursue in this dreadful, and, to them, 
unlooked-for emergency. Pity for the rebel would 
prompt them to desire his pardon and restoration. 
But abhorrence of his crime, aggravated as it was 
by the high favor conferred on him, a deep sense of 
the claims of insulted Majesty, and a conviction of 
the danger to the well-being of the universe, should 
such transgression pass Unnoticed — would seem to 
blot out all hope, and render forgiveness impossible. 
When, therefore, Jehovah Himself solved the mighty 
problem, and brought forward the plan of reconcili- 
ation through the sacrifice of Christ, by which, while 
the Divine authority was guarded and honored, 
ample provision was made for the salvation of the 
sinner, joy unfelt before must have swept over the 
legions of the skies. The character of God was now 
to be displayed to them in an aspect hitherto un- 
known. They had seen His benevolence in their 
own creation and happiness. They had seen His 
holiness and justice in the punishment of the rebel- 
lious angels. They had seen His power and wisdom 
in the building of the worlds. But they were now 
17 



194 BIBLE PICTURES. 

to see all these combined with Mercy, in one glori- 
ous exhibition, for the rescue of mined man. With 
what interest must they have watched the prepara- 
tions for this remedial undertaking, and its gradual 
unfolding by symbol and type and prophecy, until, 
"in the fulness of time," the long-promised Re- 
deemer came, and from the cross on which He 
wrought out the great Propitiation, proclaimed, "It 
is finished ! " And now, as sinners one after another 
are led by the grace of the Holy Spirit to embrace 
that Propitiation, and welcome the refuge which it 
offers, who can measure the ecstasy which they feel? 
In every individual thus converted and saved, they 
behold a living manifestation of Divine Mercy ; and 
over each instance as it occurs they pour forth from 
their myriad lyres the song of ever-growing praise. 
Angels rejoice at the repentance of a sinner, be- 
cause it brings fresh glory to Christ. The adorable 
Saviour, however despised by ingrate mortals, is 
regarded by celestial intelligences with the highest 
reverence. They cast their crowns at His feet, and 
vie with the spirits of the just made perfect in cele- 
brating His praises. True it is that their relations 
to Him differ in some respects from those of the 
redeemed. He has not taken their nature as He 
has that of men. Their blissful seats were not pur- 
chased by His sufferings ; nor is their enjoyment of 
the Divine favor the result of His mediation. But 



heaven's joy over the saved. 195 

although they are not personally the objects of His 
sacrifice, their affection and their homage are not, 
on that account, less deep or less fervent. They 
love Him for His character, His offices, His works. 
They behold Him adorned with every attribute 
that cap command the veneration of holy minds. 
They recognize, in the radiance that invests Him, 
the express image of the Father — the visible and 
embodied presentment of the Unseen One in whom 
they live, and from whom all their blessedness pro- 
ceeds. In the atonement which He has made to 
vindicate the Divine honor, and harmonize its claims 
with the - freest exercise of clemency, they behold 
the great central fact in the history of God's moral 
government, the noblest theme of heaven, and the 
only hope of earth. Viewing in this light what He 
is, and what He has done, they cannot but feel a 
sacred and intense delight at whatever illustrates 
the efficacy of His expiation, and swells the tide of 
His glory. Such is" the result when a sinner re- 
pents. In every case of true conversion, Christ sees 
of the travail of His soul. In every such case, a 
new proof is given of the life that springs from His 
death — of the power of His Spirit to subdue the 
human heart — of the sufficiency of His intercession 
to procure peace with God. In every such case, a 
new trophy is erected in the temple of His praise — 
a new jewel added to His mediatorial crown — a 



1 ? •■• bible j'lcrrr i s . 

new star lighted up in the firmament of His glory- 
And because it is so — because each sinner re- 
claimed, each sinner saved, exemplifies the grace 
and exalts the renown of the SaTiour — "ther - 
in the presence of the angels of God orer one 
sinner that repenteth 

- rejoice when a sinner repents, in Tiew of 
the misery which he escapes, and the happiness on 
which he enters. No fceadifl _ : ^ripture is more 
decided than that they who lire and die without 
repentance and faith in Christ, will be consigned to 
utter and everlasting despair. " Except re repent, 
-hall all likewise perish." "He that believeth 
the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
abideth on him/* Equally explicit is the testimony 
that they who exercise godly sorrow for their sins, 
and seek pardon throogh the merits of the Ke- 
deemer, however desperate may have been their 
former state, or heinous their _ shall rec 

forgiveness and peace here, and eternal salvation 
hereafter. "He that believeth. hath everlasting 
life." "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a 
broken heart, and - i be of a contrite 

spir: 

Xow, however we may assent to the truth of these 

however firm may be our belief that 

heaven and hell are stupendous res od that 

the holy shall forever rejoice in the one, and the 



heaven's jc z:zu;. tuz: saved. 197 

% 

unholy mourn forever in the other ; we are yet far, 

very ing any adequate conception 

either the bliss or the wretchedness involved in 

zes so ov c z~ hbuviuu. We have not seen heaven 

— we have not looked into hell: and. therefore. 
our ideas alike :: the ruptures -:: the saved, and of 

-oes of the lost, must be dim and feeble. 
But the vievrs of the angels on these great veri- 
ties are clear and vivid. They know what heaven 
is : for they dwell in its bright mansions, bask in irs 
bess light, and brink fail draughts of gladness 
from its perennial streams. They know what hell is ; 
ibr they have gazed down from their celestial abodes 
into its dungeons of darkness, and have seen the 
tormented tossing in the gloom and weltering in b_ 
flame, and have listened to the groans and blas- 
phemies that a forever from the prison-house 
of the damned. They ku.v- ~"u..: i: is x.r a s;ui to 
be 1«: s: : v have - zen 1. s: souls in perditizm — 
souls :zzce dwelling on earth — souls oneezbuz 
with the means of _z ... and with proffers of mercy 

— Bonis foi which the Spirit strove and Jesus bled 

— sueh souls the}' have seen. banisheJ zt 

from God and happiness — with all their vast car 
paeities filled, and ever to be filled, with gave: 
anguish — the victims of self-accusation and hope- 
less remorse — searred vbzn :bz lash of avenging 
Justice — and doomed to suner. without pause and 
17* 



198 BIBLE PICTURES. 

without end, the gnawings of the worm that never 
dies, and the burning of the fire that never shall be 
quenched. They know, too, what it is for a soul to 
be saved ; for they have seen the saved in glory. 
They have seen, and constantly see, mingling in 
their seraphic companies, participating in their em- 
ployments, and sharing in their happiness, the 
spirits of the just made perfect — human spirits, 
once fallen and polluted, but now redeemed and 
purified by the blood of the Lamb. They see, 
standing by their side, clothed in robes as dazzling 
as their own, millions that have been gathered from 
this outcast world, and made conquerors over sin 
and death and hell. They see them treading the 
same glittering heights with themselves ; making 
the same progress in divine knowledge ; approach- 
ing as near to the Eternal Throne ; serving God 
with powers as great, and zeal as fervent ; their 
songs as sweet, their natures as holy, their forms 
as glorious*, their bliss as perfect. And they know 
that it was by repentance at the cross of Christ, that 
these ransomed multitudes began the upward course 
that has brought them to fulness of joy, and pleas- 
ures for-evermore. Must not the conversion of sin- 
ners, then, be an object of supreme desire and 
satisfaction to angelic minds? Seeing what they 
see — knowing what they know — witnessing in the 
lost the horrors of damnation — feeling in them- 



199 



selves the overflowing glories and transports of a 
blessed immortality — can we wonder that when 
even one of our ruined race is emancipated from 
sin, and prepared for their own happy society, they 
should burst forth in triumphant hosannas, and 
make all heaven ring with their outgushing joy? 

TTe may illustrate this by an incident which oc- 
curred iu connection with the wreck of the ill-fated 
steamer, Central America. A few days after that 
startling event, which sent hundreds to a watery 
grave, and plunged the nation in grief, a pilot boat 
was seen, on a fair, breezy morning, standing up 
the Bay of Xew York. The very appearance of the 
vessel £ave token that she was freighted with tidino-s 
of no common interest. With every sail set, and 
streamers flying, she leaped along the waters as if 
buoyant with some great joy ; while the glad winds 
that swelled her canvas, and the sparkling waves 
that kissed her sides, and urged her on her way, 

O ^ ' 

seemed to laugh with conscious delight. As she 
drew nearer, an unusual excitement was visible on 
her deck ; and her captain, running out to the ex- 
treme point of the bowsprit, and swinging his cap, 
appeared to be shouting something with intense 
earnestness and animation. At first, the distance 
prevented his being distinctly understood. But 
soon, as the vessel came farther into the harbor, the 
words, "Three more saved! Three more saved/" 



200 BIBLE PICTURES. 

reached the nearest listeners. They were caught 
up by the crews of the multitudinous ships that lay 
anchored around, and sailors sprang wildly into the 
rigging, and shouted, " Three more saved!" They 
were heard on the wharves ; and the porter threw 
down his load, and the drayman stopped his noisy 
cart, and shouted, M Three more saved!" The tid- 
ings ran along the streets ; and newsboys left off 
crying the last murder, and shouted, R Three more 
saved! " Busy salesmen dropped their goods, book- 
keepers their pens, bankers their discounts, tellers 
their gold, and merchants, hurrying on the stroke 
of the last hour of grace to pay their notes, paused 
in their headlong haste, and shouted, w Three more 
saved! " Louder and louder grew the cry — faster 
and faster it spread — along the crowded piers of 
the Hudson and the East River — up by the graves 
of Trinity, the hotels of Broadway, the marble pal- 
aces of the Fifth Avenue — over the Heights of 
Brooklyn — across to Hoboken and Jersey City — 
away, away, beyond tower and pinnacle, beyond 
mansion and temple, beyond suburb and hamlet — 
till a million hearts pulsated with its thrill, and 
above all the sounds of the vast metropolis, mightier 
than all, hushing all, rose the great, exultant shout, 
" Three more saved! Three more saved!" 

If cold and selfish men will thus stop short in the 
eager quest of gain or of pleasure, to let the voice of 



heaven's jot over the saved. 201 

humanity speak out, and to express their joy that 
three fellow-beings have been rescued from the ocean 
depths, shall we deem it an incredible thing that the 
holy and loving denizens of heaven should rejoice 
when a sinner repents, and is delivered from the 
abyss of hell? Events analogous to that which I 
have described, though unseen by mortal eye, and 
unheard by mortal ear, are continually taking place 
in our world. Angel messengers — blest pilots from 
the haven of eternal peace — are ever visiting the 
earth on missions of mercy. They come, not to 
note the changes in secular affairs, the ebb and flow 
of temporal weal, the vicissitudes of politics, and 
the revolutions of states ; but to watch the conflict 
of God's Spirit with impenitence and sin. Wher- 
ever that conflict is going on, thither they bend their 
flight, there they fix their steadfast gaze. No mat- 
ter whether the individual in whose bosom it is 
waged be high or low, rich or poor. He may be a 
prince or a peasant, a Dives or a Lazarus, a lord in 
his hall, a beggar in his garret, a slave in his chains. 
Whoever he be, he has a soul, an immortal soul, a 
soul for which the Powers of Heaven and Hell are 
battling — and that is enough. With absorbing in- 
terest they observe the struggle. While they look, 
kingdoms may rise and fall, statesmen win and lose, 
fortunes spring up and crumble, financial disaster 
stride through the nations, and gaunt famine scare 



202 BIBLE PICTURES. 

the world. But they heed it not. A soul, a soul 
is in the crisis of its destiny ; and that is infinitely 
more important in their view than any crisis of com- 
merce or of empire. On that soul they fasten all 
their regards. They see it resisting. They see 
it wavering. They see it shaken and convulsed. 
They see it conquered. They see it fall prostrate 
before the Cross. They see the tear of contrition 
drop from the eye. They hear the prayer, " God 
be merciful to me a sinner," burst from the heaving 
breast. And then their golden wings rustle. Up, 
up, toward heaven they mount with the joyful mes- 
sage, " One more saved!" Other celestial bands, 
returning from similar errands, join them on the 
way, and help to swell the shout, " One more 
saved!" Up, up goes the shining squadron — by 
stars and planets — beyond suns and systems — up, 
up to the great capital of the universe — ever chant- 
ing as it goes, " One more saved!" The watchers 
on the crystal battlements catch the news, and pro- 
claim it to the listening throngs within. They pub- 
lish it in turn. Angel tells it to angel, prophet to 
prophet, apostle to apostle, martyr to martyr, saint 
to saint. Choirs of harpers sing it to each other 
from the hill-tops of glory. On, on the tidings fly 
— over the flowery plains — along the banks of the 
River of Life — along the sapphire pavements — by 
the emerald palaces — through glittering ranks of 



heaven's jot over the saved. 203 

Cherubim and Seraphim — up to the very throne of 
Divinity itself — till all heaven echoes and throbs 
with the mighty anthem, " One more saved! " 
And thus " there is joy in the presence of the angels 
of God over one sinner that repenteth." 

And there should be joy, joy deeper and more 
emphatic still, on earth. The sinner who repents 
is our brother, allied to us by the bond of a com- 
mon nature. We, like him, are guilty and con- 
demned. The same spiritual change which he has 
felt we must feel, or be undone forever. The same 
Saviour who has died for him has died for us. To 
the same heaven, to which he is going, we may also 
go. And in the same hell, which he has escaped, 
we must take up our everlasting abode, if we die 
impenitent. Oh ! how strange it is that an event, 
which fills the glorified above with ravishing delight, 
should be unnoticed by men below, or be regarded 
with indifference and contempt ! And stranger 
still is it, that the} 7 who profess to have repented 
themselves, should manifest so little interest in the 
repentance of their fellows, and put forth so few 
exertions to promote it ! Disciples of Jesus ! imi- 
tate the angels. Rejoice, as they rejoice, when a 
sinner is converted to Christ. Long, as they long, 
that multitudes may be brought to accept 1 \ is salva- 
tion. And, in the strength which God giveth, 
pray and labor for the coming of the day, when 



204 BIBLE PICTURES. 

both they and you shall lift up the song of thanks- 
giving over not merely one sinner, but a world of 
sinners, repenting. 

Dear impenitent friends ! if angels so desire your 
conversion, and would so rejoice to see it accom- 
plished, ought you not to desire it yourselves? 
You have a far deeper concern in it than they. 
Their happiness will remain unimpaired, if you are 
not converted ; but yours will be forfeited forever. 
And should not the fact that they feel such solici- 
tude for your conversion, teach you that conversion 
must be of unspeakable importance to you? The\' 
must be right. And if they did not know that 
without repentance you will perish eternally, they 
would never be so anxious that you should forsake 
your sins, and turn to the Lord. Oh ! believe not 
your own deceitful hearts; but believe the angels — 
believe the Saviour — believe God, when He tells 
you that, ''Except ye repent, ye shall perish." 
Come at once to Christ. Put away your transgres- 
sions by righteousness, and look to the Blood of 
Atonement for pardon and cleansing. Angels wait 
for your coming. A Greater than the angels waits 
for it with all the yearnings of infinite compassion. 
Yield, O yield to the invitation. And let the spirit- 
messengers that hover round you while I plead, bear 
back to their companions in glory the tidings of one 
more — two more — three more — hundreds more 
— repentant, converted, saved. 




CHAPTER X. 
THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 

"WHE5 A STEONG 3IAN ARMED KEEPETH HIS PALACE, HIS GOODS 
AEE IN PEACE; BUT WHEN A STRONGER THAN* HE SHALL COME 
UPON HEM, AND OVERCOME HEM, HE TAKETH FROM HIM ALL HIS 
ARMOR WHEREIN HE TRUSTED, AND DITIDETH HIS SPOILS.'' — Lu.iJC 
Xi. 21, >2. 

MOXG the many miraculous acts by which 
our JLord demonstrated His Divine mission, 
■ few were more striking than the castiug out 
of devils. In that age., evil spirits, subordi- 
nates and emissaries of the Prince of Dark- 
ness, were mysteriously allowed to enter into the 
bodies of men. inflicting on them preternatural mal- 
adies, whose outward signs were repulsive and ter- 
rible. By His sovereignty over the demon-world, 
the Saviour expelled these foul intruders from the 
abodes which they haunted, and restored their vic- 
tims to physical and mental soundness. 

It was a miracle of this kind that led Him to utter 
the address in which the words before us are found. 
rr He was casting out a devil: and it was dumb. 
And it came to pass, when the devil was gone out. 
the dumb spake, and the people wondered." But 
IS 205 



206 BIBLE PICTURES. 

among the witnesses of this amazing event, there 
were some hardened and insensate ones, who, with 
an impiety as illogical as it was daring, said, "He 
casteth out devils through Beelzebub, the Prince of 
the devils ; " implying that the power which He 
wielded was delegated from Hell, and that, in the 
extrusion of demons, He was but exercising author- 
ity over His own servants ! This blasphemous in- 
sinuation the great Teacher triumphantly refutes. 
"Every kingdom, divided against itself, is brought 
to desolation ; and a house, divided against a house, 
falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, 
how shall his kingdom stand? " In other words — 
if in forcing unclean spirits to depart from men, I 
act, as you wickedly affirm, by an infernal commis- 
sion, then there is presented to you the strange 
spectacle of devil opposed to devil, and fiend war- 
ring with fiend. Is this credible? Is Satan so 
stultified as to turn his weapons against his own 
agents, and set free his own captives ? " But if I 
with the finder of God cast out devils, no doubt the 

C 7 

kingdom of God is come upon you." These won- 
ders are a conclusive proof that I am sent from 
Heaven to overthrow the empire of Evil, and erect 
on its ruins the empire of Holiness. And it is the 
earnest and foreshadowing of this work which you 
now see. 

From the particular achievements thus adverted 



THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 207 

to, He proceeds to a broader view of the conflict 
which, as the Rescuer of a fallen race, He was car- 
rying on against Satan. Demoniacal possession 
was but one of the many forms of influence, which 
the Power of Evil had gained over men. With that 
influence, wherever found, and # however exerted, 
He came to contend, and to accomplish for the hu- 
man soul a glorious emancipation from guilt and 
misery. And this merciful office He sets forth by 
a metaphor as significant as it is sublime. " When 
a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods 
are in peace ; but when a stronger than he shall 
come upon him, and overcome him, he taketh from 
him all his armor wherein he trusted, and divideth 
his spoils." 

In the graphic picture which the Divine Limner 
has here sketched, the " strong man armed " repre- 
sents Satan. The "palace" is the human soul, 
which he has seized, and which he "keeps" and 
guards with jealous power. The " Stronger than 
the strong man " describes the omnipotent Deliverer 
who comes to wrench it from his grasp. And the 
whole scene is intended to portray the struggle 
between them for its possession. 

Helpless and lost indeed is the state of the soul 
before this struggle begins. "The strong man 
keepeth his palace." Strong in the resources of 
his diabolic nature, mighty in intellect, invincible 



208 BIBLE PICTURES. 

in will ; armed with the dread panoply of Satanic 
malice and satanic wiles ; using the heart's own pas- 
sions to perpetuate its own thraldom ; and employ- 
ing to the same end all the subsidiary allurements 
of sense — he maintains his fell occupancy with a 
vigilance that never slumbers, and an array of force 
which nothing finite can vanquish. He is never off 
his guard, never lays aside his weapons, never with- 
draws his sentinels from the ramparts, never relaxes 
watch or ward, never loosens his hold. Such is 
the moral tyranny that has fastened itself upon 
every unregenerate man. So utter is his subjec- 
tion to "the prince of the power of the air, the 
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobe- 
dience." 

But whence originated this enslavement of the 
soul ? We know that such was not its primal con- 
dition. It was not always under the sway of the 
relentless captor who now claims and holds it as his 
own. God made the soul pure and upright, en- 
dowed it with noble faculties and holy affections, 
and consecrated it as the habitation of His own 
glory. And so long as it retained that character, 
devoting all its powers to the will of their Author, 
it continued to be His property, His dwelling-place, 
His delight. But when man sinned, and thus alien- 
ated himself mentally and morally from his Crea- 
tor, he passed into the tenure of another master, 



THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 209 

and was brought under the control of the dark 
Spirit of the abyss. Through the temptation of the 
Arch Deceiver, the first parents of our race were 
seduced from their allegiance. In consequence of 
their representative character, all their posterity 
were involved in their fall, and inherited its results. 
Thus was the fatal victory won. Then did the hu- 
man bosom become the abode of its foul Conqueror ; 
acknowledging his ownership by admitting and cher- 
ishing the corrupt principles which he inspires. 
Then were the gates of the palace flung wide open 
for the strong man to enter; and he marched in, 
with all his dire and fearful train, barricading every 
approach with the engines of his power, and setting 
up in every chamber the insignia of his authority. 
Here was the origin of Satan's empire over the soul. 
It commenced in a daring invasion of the rights and 
sovereignty of God. 

The reign of the Destroyer, thus begun and per- 
petuated, is characterized by all those attributes of 
unmixed evil, which belong to his own moral nature. 
Let all who have not been emancipated by redeem- 
ing Grace, ponder the dread features of the domin- 
ion to which they bow. 

How pitiless is this dominion ! How complete the 
bondage which it inflicts ! The " goods " of the 
strong man " are in peace " — - in a state of absolute 
subjugation, secure from inward revolt, and from 

18* 



- I BIBLE PICTUBES. 

outward reprisal. TVith what literal exactness does 
this imagery describe the actual condition of irre- 
us men ! Over their minds and over their 
hearts the tyrant wields unrestri;: and 

holds them in i: ffialage. indeed, 

m to themselves to be free. They ma 
music in the clank of their chains, and so fo:_ 
their srrindinsr. T;. v may even boast of their ex- 
eruption from moral restraints, and glory in the 
ma: eir thraldom, as proofs of their inde- 

pendence. And it is the p Satan so to de- 

lude them, and prevent them from perceiving that 
they are enslaved. Nevertheless, the servitud 
real and total. "1 — the peace of aJ 

mission — reigns throughout the palace of the 
soul. Not an insurgent voice is heard ; not a fac- 
ility st: -: stance. The intellect, the imagina- 
tion, the will, the conscience, the affections, all 
share in the bondage, and become, by the arts of the 
usurper, instruments of perpetuating that bond; _ 
1 this mournful truth the human race furnishes 

E 'litary exception. The entire history of our 
world, from the first apostasy downward, verifies 
the inspired declaration, that men u I captive 

be devil at his will." 
What can be more deb sing flian this infernal 
mastership': We are wont to associate degradation 
with But there is no slavery that can, in 



THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 211 

this respect, be compared with the slavery into 
which man has been brought by sin. In all other 
slavery, however deep and galling, the mind may be 
free. The fetter that shackles the limbs, cannot 
bind the thoughts, nor restrain their outgoings. But 
here the iron enters into the soul. The chain is on 
the heart, depraving and crushing whatever is noble 
in our nature. The true dignity of an intelligent 
being consists in its moral resemblance to Him who 
is the Fountain of all excellence, and the Centre of 
all perfection. Whatever, therefore, produces m> 
likeness to God must necessarily debase the nature 
on which it acts. How fully is this truth exempli- 
fied in the case of Satan himself. Though his form 
may not have wholly lost its original grandeur, nor 
appear less than archangel ruined ; though he may 
still possess vast intellectual capacities, and stupen- 
dous powers of achievement ; yet, in all that consti- 
tutes real glory, how low has he sunk beneath the 
sphere in which he once moved among the sons of 
the morning ! And as men share his wickedness, 
they share also his degradation. True it is that hu- 
manity retains even in its ruin many traces of its 
former greatness, and often sends forth flashes and 
sparklings of the splendor with which its Maker 
adorned it. But these, like the ghastly lights that 
flicker up from charnel-houses, emanate from death, 
and serve only to show the putrescence beneath. 



212 BIBLE PICTURES. 

So fatally has the spoiler succeeded in blackening 
the soul with his own dishonors. Dragging it down 
from its equality with angels — from its high alli- 
ance with God and heaven — to a level with the 
tenants of the pit, he gloats over its pollution, and 
exults in the depth of its fall. Oh, how forcibly 
does Inspiration express the utterness of that de- 
scent, when it characterizes the natural man as 
"earthly, sensual, devilish!" 

To be under the dominion of Satan is, moreover, 
as destructive as it is disgraceful. On all who obey 
his will the sentence of Divine condemnation is 
resting. Every being that sins is necessarily ex- 
posed to the penalty of God's violated law, and in 
danger of its everlasting infliction. The powers 
of the nether world, though permitted to exercise a 
mysterious lordship over the realms of humanity, 
are themselves undergoing the pains of that law, 
and are waiting, in the prison of darkness, a yet 
more awful award at the judgment of the great day. 
The guilt of man renders him liable to the same 
doom. And his punishment will be equally just. 
His rebellion, in its commencement, and through all 
its subsequent stages, has been his own act. He 
has been placed under no compulsion — under no 
invincible necessity of sinning. He cannot charge 
his fall upon God, nor even upon the agency of 
Satan ; for that agency would have been powerless 



THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 213 

without his own consent. His trangressions are the 
product of free will and voluntary choice. In the 
emphatic language of Scripture, "he is drawn away 
of his own lusts, and enticed." Hence, as he has, 
of his own accord, associated himself with devils in 
character and in conduct, it is equitable on every 
principle of righteousness, that he should be asso- 
ciated with them in destiny. And this the word of 
God most distinctly and solemnly teaches. His 
wrath is revealed from heaven against the iniquities 
of men. If they die impenitent, they will be con- 
signed, in the future world, to "the everlasting fire 
prepared for the devil and his angels." O ye care- 
less ones ! ye slaves of sin and Satan ! behold the 
end to which your master is leading you, and which 
you will surely reach at last, if you turn not from 
his guidance. He has entered the palace of your 
soul, only that he may plunder and destroy it. If 
he be not overcome and driven out by One mightier 
than he, that noble structure, once so bright and 
fair, so worthy to be the shrine and home of Deity, 
will be shivered by the thunderbolt, and hurled into 
the lake of fire. 

But there is hope for the defiled and imperilled 
mansion. A Stronger than the strong man has 
arisen to deliver it from his power, to repair the 
ravages which he has made in it, to cast from it its 



214 BIBLE PICTVBES. 

impurities, and pervade it with the sweet odur of 
holiness, and the song of salvation. 

The Author of our rescue from Satan is the Lord 
Jesus Christ. Before the worlds were made, the 
eternal Father, looking forward to man's thraldom 
and ruin through the arts of the Tempter, set apart 
His Only Begotten Son to inaugurate and carry out 
that Scheme of Mercy, by which the palace of the 
soul is to be given back to its rightful Proprietor, 
"the captives of the mighty taken away, and the 
prey of the terrible delivered.'' This purpose of 
Infinite Love was announced to the first trangressors 
of our race, as they left the bowers of their forfeited 
Eden, and went forth to their long exile. From 
that time onward, the Promised Redemption became 
the chief end of Divine Revelation, and the grand 
object of human hope. Prophecy foretold it. 
Symbols shadowed it. Sacrifices prefigured it. 
The march of the centuries, the ebb and flow of 
terrestrial affairs, the birth and death of empires, 
the painful travail of the darkling generations, the 
whole system of God's dealing with men, all bore 
relation to it, all tended to prepare the way for it. 
At the appointed hour the Deliverer came, assumed 
the fallen nature, and in it wrought the blessed tri- 
umph. Thus was the Son of God manifested, that 
He might destroy the works of the devil. 

Behold our Emancipator ! How preeminently 



THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 215 

was He furnished for the fearful battle that lay be-; 
fore Him ! K Stronger than the strong man " — 
clothed with loftier attributes, girded with vaster 
power, wielding more resistless weapons. What 
though He took upon Him the form of a servant, 
and made Himself of no reputation ? What though 
He lay a helpless babe in the manger of Bethlehem? 
TThat though He was "the Man of Sorrows," and 
wandered homeless in the world which He came to 
save ? What though He suffered a death of shame ? 
These were but voluntary submissions. In their 
lowest depth, all the energies of Divinity were still 
His. The arms that were stretched out upon the 
cross upheld the universe. He was still the Bright- 
ness of the Fathers glory, and the express Image 
of His Person. He was still " God over all, blessed 
forever ;" the Almighty One, who spake, and it was 
done ; who commanded, and it stood fast : who 
hung the globe on its axle, and poised the stars in 
their orbits. Oh, He was strong, infinitely strong 
— stronger than Satan's devices, stronger than 
man's frowardness, stronger than the wrath of Jus- 
tice ! But we need not fear His power, for it is all 
controlled by Mercy. It is the power, not of the 
earthquake or the tempest, but of the sunbeam and 
the rain-drop — the power to enlighten, to Vivify, 
to redeem. 

Here, then, the great stru^o-le between the Ao*en- 



216 BIBLE PICTURES. 

cies of Light and of Darkness opens before us. We 
see the one side represented by the incarnate Son 
of God, clad in the might of His sufferings and of 
His love ; the other, b}^ the Prince of Hell, backed 
by all his infernal legions, and by all his earthly 
auxiliaries. To these champions the fortunes of the 
strife are committed. Our world is the arena ; and 
the prize to be striven for is, on the part of Christ, 
the recovery of the soul to the use and glory of Him 
who formed it ; on the part of Satan, the retention 
of his influence over it, and its final perdition. 
Waged for such a stake, the combat absorbs the 
regards of Celestial Intelligences. Heaven watches 
it ; the abyss is moved ; the universe is in suspense. 
And shall not we, whose immortal weal or woe is 
involved in the issue, survey it with an interest yet 
more intense, and stud}' its movements with fixed 
and eager gaze ? 

What is its method? How does the Stronger 
than the strong man conduct the assault ? Of the 
manner of His procedure an apt illustration may be 
taken from the ordering of the dread civil war, in 
which our Government lately put forth its strength 
to uphold its authority, and bring back to their 
allegiance the revolted States of the South. In the 
capture of the numerous strongholds which our 
forces wrested from the rebels, the principal forti- 
fication was not ordinarily at once assailed. There 



THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 217 

were many preliminary manoeuvres. Outworks 
were to be demolished ; strategic points were to be 
•secured, to serve as bases from which the final op- 
erations were to be carried on, and the main attack 
developed. Precisely similar is the course which 
the Captain of our Salvation has adopted. He did 
not inaugurate the conflict by a direct onset upon 
the palace, whose conquest was His ultimate end. 
To open the way for this, previous achievements of 
the most arduous nature were necessary. The stern 
barrier of Divine Justice opposed the going forth 
of Mercy ; and to effect its removal, a march of 
agony must be made, a terrible campaign of humili- 
ation and sorrow undergone. In the merits of His 
atonement a vantage ground was to be gained, from 
which to push forward the advance upon the soul ; 
and to reach such a position, severe battles with 
Satan must be fought outside the walls of his castle, 
and among the intrenchments that defended the 
approaches to it. 

One of these battles took place in the field of the 
Temptation. As it was here that the Seducer had 
vanquished the first Adam, it was requisite that here 
he should be met and overcome by the Second. And 
it is of moment to observe that the weapons which 
Satan employed were the same in both cases. He 
triumphed over our first parents by enticements 
appealing alike to bodily appetite and to mental 

19 



218 BIBLE PICTURES. 

ambition ; and it was by instigations of a kindred 
character that he attempted to deceive and draw 
into sin their glorious Seed and Representative. 
But in the form that now confronted him, there 
dwelt, not the facileness of a weak woman, but the 
unblenching resistance of the God-man, the impreg- 
nable purity of the Holy One. In vain was the 
prospect of bread presented to His fainting human- 
ity amid the hunger and thirst of the desert ; vain 
the solicitation to cast Himself down from the pin- 
nacle of the Temple, in presumptuous proof of His 
Divinity ; vain the phantasmagoric panorama of the 
world's pomp and glory, conjured up to induce Him 
to worship the Impersonation of Evil. The Son of 
God could not be corrupted; and at the calm, firm 
words from His lips, "Get thee behind Me, Satan," 
the Tempter fled baffled from the encounter. 

They grappled again — the Strong Man and the 
Stronger — on the arena of Miracles. In many a 
human tabernacle, the Arch-fiend had quartered his 
fell troops, as a sign at once of his authority, and 
of his resolve to keep possession of his victims. 
But at the voice of Christ, the demons were driven 
out from the tenements which they defiled and tor- 
tured ; and were compelled to confess His power, 
now in silent, trembling obedience, now with moan- 
ings and bowlings, crying, "We know Thee, who 



THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 219 

Thou art, the Holy One of God." Here the Strong 
Man was foiled again. 

There was another and yet more decisive battle 
on the Hill of Calvary. Satan, having incited the 
Jewish priests and rulers to put the Redeemer to 
death, looked on with malign joy, while their mur- 
derous hands accomplished the deed. But did he 
deem this a victory for himself? Did he think the 
cross was to stand through all the ages a monument 
of his own triumph, and of Heaven's final defeat? 
Never was imagination so false, hope so baseless. 
No, no. In that very culmination of infernal malice 
— in that seeming overthrow of Christ — the do- 
minion of Hell received a crushing and fatal blow, 
from which it can never recover. Then was wrought 
out, amid the gloom of the shrouded skies, and the 
quaking of the astonished earth, that amazing Pro- 
pitiation, by which the power of Evil shall be ulti- 
mately banished from the universe. Here, too, the 
Strong Man was foiled. 

They met again at the Sepulchre. If Satan could 
have prevented the resurrection of Jesus ; if the 
stone, the seal, and the watch could have held the 
body of the Crucified a prisoner in the cold embrace 
of the grave — the supremacy of the Destroyer 
would have been assured. The Sacrifice of the 
Son, unaccredited by the witness of the' Father, 
would have been shorn of all efficacy. It could 



m 1.1 ::: — :: 



_ — ' " . - - 

- ; _'_ _ _ - :-_.-!■ — ' : £ - 1 : ; - ~ - ; I . : r ; :5~ 




THE STIiOXG SPOILED BY THE STBOXGEE. 221 

ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors : and the King of 
Glory shall come in." And well might the seraphic 
choirs, in responsive chorus, ask and reply, " Who 

is this King of Glory? The Lord, strong and 
mighty : the Lord mighty in battle ; He is the King 
of Glory." He passed through the golden portals ; 
laid His trophies at His Father's feet ; sat down at 
the right hand of Power ; and became thenceforth 
Head over all things to His church. 

The Redeemer, having triumphed in these pre- 
paratory conflicts; having occupied the command- 
ing points, and removed the obstructions from His 
advance — now marshals His forces for the grand 
end. the conquest of the palace itself. Thither the 
Strong Man has retreated: and there, as in the 
very heart and citadel of his empire, he waits the 
attack, vigilant, resolute, confident. But vain are 
his wiliest contrivances, vain his boasted munitions, 
vain his utmost efforts, to repel the Stronger Antag- 
onist who comes to dislodge him. On the broad, 
all-overlooking platform of His Atonement, the 
God-man plants the artillerj' of His TTord, and 
sounds the signal of battle. Aimed by the Holy 
Spirit, the siege-guns of the Gospel thunder upon 
the fortress. The steel-pointed shot crash against 
scarp and parapet, rampart and tower, sweeping 
every traverse, enfilading every embrasure. The 
earth-works are knocked away from the Under- 

19* 



222 BIBLE PICTURES. 

standing ; the bastion of Unbelief falls ; and the 
dead wall of Conscience is laid open. Satan him- 
self cannot stand such a fire. His cannon are dis- 
mounted ; his defences riddled and shattered. Still 
the terrible hail pours on, driving him, from covert 
to covert, into the bomb-proof of the Will. Even 
there he finds no protection. The blazing bolts, 
forged in heaven, and instinct with its power, tear 
through and through the thick casemates, and rend 
them into fragments. He has now found "the last 
ditch ; " and, as a final resort, he offers to give up a 
part of the castle to Christ, on condition of being 
permitted to retain the rest. But no such terms 
can be accepted. He must surrender and evacuate 
the whole. Jesus will have all or nothing. Mean- 
while the assault is pressed with increasing vigor. 
The batteries are brought nearer, and hurl their 
living missiles with more irresistible effect. At 
length, the gates are beaten down — the omnipotent 
Victor enters — strips the Strong Man of his armor 
— casts him out of the palace — and sends him, 
raging with the shame of defeat, to "his own place." 
In this manner the Saviour reclaims the soul from 
the usurpation of Satan. By dispelling its unbelief 
and carelessness, enlightening it to see its own 
bondage, blotting out its guilt, and breaking down 
the predominance of corruption within it, He takes 
from its ruthless Enslaver the very weapons on 



THE STRONG SPOILED BY THE STRONGER. 223 

which he chiefly relied for keeping it in subjection. 
The depraved principles and inclinations of men are 
the instruments by which the Devil reigns. With 
these he binds his captives ; with these he makes his 
power secure ; with these he supports his throne of 
iniquity in the world. When, therefore, these per- 
verted faculties are transformed, by renewing grace, 
into servants of righteousness, tlife agencies in which 
he trusted are turned against himself, and become 
aids in his discomfiture and expulsion. 

Once more in possession of the temple which He 
built for Himself, 'and which he has redeemed at 
such cost, the Divine Restorer proceeds to renovate 
and beautify it. Its foulness is cleansed ; its dilap- 
idations are repaired. The broken arches are re- 
newed, the fallen pillars set up. Its vile occupants 
— the impure affections, the carnal proclivities, the 
sinful habits, that have harbored in it so long — are 
cast forth and banished ; and the elements of a 
heavenly life, penitence, faith, love, holiness, are 
installed in their places. The breath of the Spirit 
pervades all the apartments, filling them with the 
fragrance of its graces ; and instead of the uproar 
of passion and riot with which they once resounded, 
are -now heard words of peace and good-will, the 
voice of prayer, the rejoicing of hope, and hymns 
of thanksgiving. 

Thus is the palace of the soul recovered, purified, 



224 BIBLE PICTURES. 

inhabited. God dwells in it again, irradiating it 

with the light of His presence, and enriching it 
with His favor. A result so delightful gives joy to 
heaven and earth. The Father rejoices over his 
regained treasure. The Son rejoices over His fin- 
ished work. The soul rejoices in its deliverance 
and freedom. And thus the spoils of the van- 
quished Strong Man are divided. To Christ belongs 
the glory of his overthrow ; to the soul, the salva- 
tion that follows it. Man receives the blessing, 
God the praise. 

The great spiritual change, which has been de- 
scribed as effected in the case of a single individual, 
is bat an epitome of what our glorious Champion 
has achieved for multitudes in the centuries that are 
past — of what He is achieving for multitudes now 
— and of what He will achieve for yet larger mul- 
titudes in the ages to come. Never will He give 
over the warfare with Satan, never cease to liberate 
his bondmen, till humanity is enfranchised, and the 
dominion of evil rooted from the earth. 

How clearly does this conflict reveal the estimate 
which, in other worlds, is put on the human soul ! 
O careless one ! thou mayest think little of the 
immortal jewel which God has lodged within thee, 
and mayest even forget or deny that such a jewel is 
thine. But not so is it regarded by Higher Powers. 
For its possession Heaven and Hell are struggling. 



THE ST BOX G SPOILED BY THE STB OX GEE. 22o 

The Monarch of the Pit deems it his proudest 
achievement to crush and destroy it ; while all the 
energies of Divinity are called forth to snatch it 
from his grasp, to wash away its stains, and set it 
anew in the diadem of its Maker. Oh, how 
precious must that spirit be, for which such com- 
batants contend ! How noble, beyond expression, 
the palace around which the Hosts of Light and the 
legions of Darkness meet in deadly encounter ! 
And how unspeakable the madness of the man who 
is unconcerned, while the question is being decided 
in whose hands he shall be for eternity ! 

Some of you may have seen the celebrated paint- 
ing by Retsch, in which, with wondrous skill, he 
has portrayed a game of chess between Satan and a 
young man, who has staked his soul on the issue. 
The truth and vivid power of the representation ; 
the different expression in the faces of the players ; 
the gay, heedless look of the young man, all uncon- 
scious of his peril ; and the cunning, hellish leer of 
the Fiend, as the chances seem to turn in his favor 
— can never be forgotten by any who have once 
beheld them. But how much more graphic and 
solemn is the scene which the Divine pencil has 
drawn — Christ and Satan battling for the soul of 
man. Nor is it picture merely : it is real. The 
contest is actually going forward, going forward 
now, going forward in your own spiritual history. 



226 BIBLE PICTURES. 

Intrenched within your heart, "the Prince of the 
Power of the air" plies all his weapons of falsehood, 
and delusion, and worldly enchantments, to main- 
tain his fatal mastery over you ; while, at the door, 
stands the. crucified One — pity in His eye, and sal- 
vation in His hands — summoning you to thrust out 
the Deceiver, and yield the palace to the sweet con- 
trol of His love. Which, in your case, shall be the 
victor ? 




CHAPTER XI. 

TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 

"And when He was come near. He beheld the city, and wept 
over it." — Zw£exix. 41. 

HE sun of the cloudless Orient is flooding 
Jerusalem with its noonday splendors. Its 
beams shimmer on wall and tower, roof 
and gable, dome and pinnacle, and float in 
golden waves along the ridges of the en- 
vironing hills. It is the Passover Week ; and the 
venerated metropolis of Hebrew worship is clad in 
festal attire, and throbs, through all its arteries, 
with eager life. The sacred places are crowded ; 
the streets echo with the tread of countless feet ; 
while at each open gate fresh throngs pour into the 
city, or may be seen hastening towards it by every 
road and avenue. From all parts of Palestine, and 
from utmost lands whither the Jews have beeu scat- 
tered, they come — here in long caravans, there in 
isolated bands — to celebrate this highest solemnity 
of their national religion. 

On one of these approaching groups let us fasten 
our attention. There is nothing remarkable in its 
appearance. It displays no outward magnificence, 

227 



228 BIBLE PICTURES. 

no parade of wealth and power, to attract the gaze 
of the casual onlooker. Its numbers are indeed 
imposing ; but they are chiefly the common people 
of the country, plain in garb, lowly in station, un- 
heeded by the proud and great. Nevertheless, the 
broad earth, with all that it boasts of grand and 
noble, shows not, at this moment, another spectacle 
so truly sublime — none so important to the world 
— none so worthy of universal regard. In this 
obscure company walks One on whose character and 
office rests the redemption of the human race — One 
who is "the Brightness of the Father's Glory," God 
manifested in flesh. He wears no crown ; no royal 
ofarmcnts invest Him. His bearing is meek and 
gentle ; and in that face of heavenly beauty are 
traces of mortal pain, and the foreshadows of ago- 
nies still more terrible. Yet, through all the 
reserve and concealment of His humiliation, the in- 
dwelling Divinity streams forth, and declares itself 
in every look and utterance. Worn and travel- 
stained, He is going up for the last time to the 
Feast which prefigures His own expiation for sin, 
and which is soon to receive its highest interpreta- 
tion in the Sacrifice of the Cross. He knows well 
the dread travail which that interpretation will cost 
Hiin. But instead of shrinking from the hour 
whose darkness is fast gathering over Him, He 
presses forward to meet it, exclaiming at every 



TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 229 

step, "I have a baptism to be baptized with, and 
how am I straitened till it be accomplished." 

Intent on the atoning work now so near, He 
has left His retirement beyond the Jordan, and 
turned His steps toward the capital of the nation, 
where that work is to be consummated. He has 
passed the night at Bethany, in the house of His 
friend Lazarus, at whose grave the mightiest of His 
miracles was lately performed. Here the concourse 
around Him is greatly increased by visitors from 
Jerusalem, who have come to see the raised one 
sitting by the side of the Wonderful Quickener 
whose voice called him back to life. In the morning 
Jesus resumes His journey ; the vast train of festal 
wayfarers encompassing Him on every side, and 
listening to the words of grace that fall from His 
lips. As they climb the eastern slope of the Mount 
of Olives, and reach a point in the ascent opposite 
to the village of Bethphage, there is a pause in the 
upward movement. A transaction full of Messianic 
significance is now to take place. To foreshow the 
wide dominion that awaits Him as the Mediator of 
the New Covenant, and the exalted honors which 
shall compensate His sufferings, the Eedeemer pro- 
poses to enter the scene of those sufferings in the ' 
manner of a Sovereign and Conqueror. But where 
are the external conditions befitting such a purpose ? 
w T here the appliances which it demands — the kingly 
20 



230 BIBLE PICTUBES. 

robe, the triumphal chariot, the princely retinue, the 
ausrust insignia? The riches of earth and heaven 
are His. At His behest, celestial glory would 
clothe His form, the diadem of Godhead rest on 
His brow, angelic legions muster round Him, and 
chariots of fire and horses of fire come rushing down 
the skies to bear Him on His way. Yet He sum- 
mons none of these. Out of all the universe which 
He owns, an ass's colt, brought by His disciples from 
yonder village, and caparisoned with their dusty 
garments, is alone chosen to grace His ovation. 
Well might an ancient prophecy, looking forward 
to this event, and to the amazing condescension 
which it involved, proclaim to the Daughter of 
Zion, "Behold thy Kiug cometh unto thee; just, 
and having salvation ; lowly, and riding upon an 
ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass." Out- 
ward pomp can add nothing to the majesty of the 
Divine ; and these simple preparations are far more 
in accordance with the character of the Prince of 
Peace than any gorgeous emblems of wordly might 
and dominion. 

Thus humbly furnished, the God-man begins His 
Symbolic March to the City and Temple of His 
Father. Again the attendant crowd moves on ; 
many, in their zeal to honor Him, stripping off their 
cloaks, and spreading them as a carpet along the 
rugged way. Soon they are met by another multi- 



TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 231 

tude hurrying up from Jerusalem. The Paschal 
pilgrims assembled there, profoundly impressed by 
the fame of Jesus, and learning His approach, pour 
out from the city to behold and welcome Him. 
Passing down the Valley of the Kidron, they cut 
branches from the clustering palm trees that skirt 
its sides, and hasten upward by the usual caravan 
road* round the southern shoulder of Olivet. On the 
rocky plateau beyond the summit, the two human 
streams unite in one immense confluence. Those 
from the city, turning round, precede the Saviour, 
strewing their palm branches in the path before Him ; 
while the still larger numbers from Bethany follow 
after, with equal demonstrations of joy and homage. 
In this manner the procession sweeps onward, till 
the crest of the ridge is passed, and its western de- 
scent commences. The Temple, and the sections 
of Jerusalem contiguous to it, are yet hidden by the 
jutting slope of Olivet on the north ; but Mount 
Zion, the ancient city of David, the renowned seat 
of Hebrew royalty, comes into full view below them. 
Memories of Israel's glory — of the old days of the- 
ocratic power and splendor — waken and glow at 
the sight. Gazing on the spot where the Hero- 
Bard ruled and sung, and fired by the expectation 
that his fallen throne is about to be set up anew by 
his greater Descendant, the excited throng shouts 
forth its enthusiasm in the grand Messianic chorus, 



232 BIBLE PICTURES. 

" Hosanna to the Son of David ; blessed be the King 
that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in 
the highest." 

The living mass once more advances ; and as it 
winds round the protruding angle of the mountain, 
suddenly the entire circuit of the Jewish metropo- 
lis, with its golden-roofed Sanctuary rising in the 
midst, its massive towers, its sumptuous palaces, 
its myriad homes of wealth and luxury, its walls of 
strength girding it on every side, and the broad 
sweep of gardens and orchards and vine-clad hills 
beyond — all beaming and flashing under the bright 
sky of the East — bursts on the eye in a vast pano- 
rama of loveliness. A vision so endeared to the 
Hebrew heart — so hallowed by mighty recollec- 
tions and by mightier hopes — deepens the exulta- 
tion of the beholders, and intensifies its utterance. 
They believe that the hour has come in which Jesus 
is to reveal Himself as the Promised King of Israel ; 
that the design of His present visit to the city is 
to proclaim His sovereignty, and demand the alle- 
giance of the rulers ; and that He will now place 
Himself at the head of the nation, and, by His mi- 
raculous power, inaugurate a secular dominion that 
shall subdue all lands, and make Jerusalem the mis- 
tress of the world. Full of these patriotic anticipa- 
tions, and looking upon Christ as the anointed Cham- 
pion and Uplifter of their race, they press round Him 



TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 233 

with rejoicing acclamations, and wave their palm 
branches before Him in token of His future tri- 
umphs. 

Doubtless there are some among them who unite 
with these carnal views a higher conception of His 
mission, and who recognize in Him a Divine Re- 
deemer from sin, as well as the Restorer of pros- 
trate Judaism. Yet none — not even they who 
perceive most clearly the spiritual nature of the de- 
liverance which He is to bring — have any true 
idea of the maimer in which that deliverance is to 
be accomplished. All imagine that He will fulfil 
the purpose of His coming — not by submitting to 
ignominy and death — but by putting forth His 
omnipotent energies to overwhelm opposition, and 
establish the Messianic empire throughout the earth. 
And supposing such a consummation to be near at 
hand, they hail Him as a conqueror moving on to 
power and victory. 

But He, who is the object of all this homage and 
felicitation, partakes not in the general joy. Amidst 
the hosannas of the multitude, the soul of Jesus is 
stirred by a deep and overmastering sorrow. He 
looks down, as they do, on the Holy City spread 
out in its glory beneath Him. Very different, how- 
ever, are the emotions with which He beholds it. 
They survey it with delight as the pride and crown 
of Israel — the chosen residence of Jehovah — illus- 
20* 



234 BIBLE PICTURES. 

trious in the past, and destined to become still more 
illustrious in the future. He sees it foul with crime, 
forsaken of God, and rushing to its doom. They 
see in it the theatre of His own approaching honors, 
and of Divine favor toward the Jews eclipsing all 
former displays, and to be continued through un- 
told centuries. He sees in it the scene of His cru- 
cifixion, and of swift coming retribution. And as 
He sits there, and contemplates its beaut}' and splen- 
dor, its noble structures, its busy thoroughfares, its 
swarming population, and thinks how soon those 
streets will be stained with the blackest deed which 
the earth has ever known, that population accursed 
for all time, and those structures hurled down by a 
terrible vengeance, the depths of infinite compassion 
are moved within Him; and with gushing tears — 
the tears of unavailing tenderness and regret — He 
pours out the lamentation, "Oh, that thou hadst 
known, even thou, in this thy day, the things which 
belong to thy peace ; but now they are hidden 
from thine eyes ! " "He beheld the city, and wept 
over it." 

" There she stood — 
Jerusalem — the city of His love, 
Chosen from all the earth ; Jerusalem, 
That knew Him not, and had rejected Him ; 
Jerusalem, for whom He came to die ! " 

How the sight unlocks the fountains of His grief, 



TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 235 

and centres every thought and feeling on the fear- 
ful woes which His omniscience associates with it ! 
Forgotten is the scene around Him. Unheeded are 
the gratulations of the Disciples, the plaudits of the 
crowd. He sees only Jerusalem, the loved and lost ; 
and, in view of her guilt and overthrow, all else is 
disregarded. Never before in His life of humilia- 
tion has He stood so high in popular esteem. Yet 
at this moment of His greatest triumph, when His 
following is the largest, and the acclaim the loudest, 
He turns away and weeps. His attendants, com- 
prehending only the present and the outward, re- 
joice ; but He, the All-Kuowiug, the All-Compre- 
hending, weeps. Instructive contrast ! ever real 
and ever repeated. In all lands and ages men exult 
and shout where Divine prescience pities and la- 
ments. 

But what were the peculiar circumstances in the 
case of Jerusalem, which rendered its impending 
fate so afflictive to the heart of Christ? Other 
great centres of civilization and power have per- 
ished amid the horrors of siege and slaughter. 
Yet Scripture gives no hint that their fall was sig- 
nalized by any such remarkable mourning. Why 
was Jerusalem so distinguished? What special 
facts of its history called forth the tears of the Son 
of God? 

He wept over it in view of what it had been. 



23 G BIBLE PICTURES. 

For more than a thousand years it had held to Je- 
hovah a relation as singular as it was sacred and 
blessed. He had selected it out of all the world as 
the place of His earthly dwelling, the seat of His 
worship, the visible type of His invisible Church, 
the terrestrial counterpart of His glorious Capital in 
the Heavens. There the Ark of His Testimony, 
after its many wanderings and migrations, found a 
permanent abode. There His Tabernacle rested. 
There the august Temple, the wonder of all lands, 
was reared and consecrated to His honor. There 
He recorded His name. There He manifested His 
presence in the Flame-Cloud of the Shechiuah. 
There His arm was often revealed to defend and 
succor His heritage. There divinely appointed 
priests ministered to Him, and inspired poets 
chanted His praise, and holy prophets spoke His 
words, and pious kings upheld His law, and guarded 
the purity of His service. There, too, amid the 
dim shadows of the Elder Covenant, the ever burn- 
ing altar of sacrifice, and ever smoking incense, 
had prefigured the Great Propitiation now ready to 
be offered ; and there, from age to age, the momen- 
tous truths which underlie it had been brought into 
fuller and more luminous development. 

All this Jesus saw as he gazed down on the city. 
His mind travelled back over the long generations, 
in which the peopled hills below Him had been the 



TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 237 

solitary refuge of true religion on the earth ; and 
had gleamed with the only light from heaven which 
broke the darkness of world-wide Heathenism. 
That light was indeed imperfect. It was not the 
Day which He came to usher in. But it sprung 
from the same Source as the Day. It heralded the 
Day. It was the precursor of the Sun — the Star 
of Promise — the Star of Hope — and, while it shone, 
the lone Star in the otherwise blank horizon of our 
outcast globe. 

Well may we believe that such a retrospect of 
the moral position of Zion in the olden time rose 
now, with vivid force, on the consciousness of Christ. 
He thought of her ancient faith ; of her holy dead ; of 
the radiance which she had shed over the nations ; of 
the epochs of Divine power and mercy which marked 
her earlier history ; of the far distant period when 
the Almighty walked among her tabernacles ; and 
when He Himself, as the Angel of the Lord, fre- 
quented her precincts, conversed with her seers, 
guided her counsels, sheltered her children under 
the wings of His love. Oh ! dear to Immanuel was 
Jerusalem the favored — Jerusalem the fallen — 
dear for the fathers' sake — dear for her ancestral 
truth, vanished but remembered — dear to Him as 
the Messiah of Israel, the Saviour of the Chosen 
Seed. Alas ! how sadly at this hour He recalled 
her former preciousness, and mused on all that she 



238 BIBLE PICTURES. 

had been to Heaven and earth, to God and to 
man ! 

From the regretted past of the Holy City He 
turned to her revolting present, and wept over her 
for what she then was. And the change of view 
deepened His. auguish. The living Jerusalem was 
a far more painful spectacle than the departed. It 
teemed with tokens of universal and fatal degener- 
acy. Lapse and deterioration were everywhere. 
In outward seeming there was no falling away from 
the sanctities of other and better days. There stood 
the Temple revered and cherished as of old. There 
were its spacious courts filled with worshippers — 
robed priests officiating in their courses — the smoke 
of burnt offerings floating on the air. The sacriti- 
cial victims, the sprinkled blood, the chanted pray- 
ers, the hymns of the Levites, the whole pomp and 
ceremonial of Judaism — all were there. Never 
were the show and observance of religion more os- 
tentatiously paraded ; and never was the mere letter 
of the Law more strictly expounded, or more rigor- 
ously applied. The empire of ritualism was com- 
plete. It ruled in every domain of thought; in 
every custom and pursuit of life. 

But the appearances of devotion thus pervading 
all things were utterly false. The piety which they 
represented was exterior, artificial, conventional. 
It was a body without a' soul — a ghastly putrefy- 



TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 239 

ing corpse, laid out in state, and surrounded by the 
hideous decorations of death. "Whatever of truth, 
of heaven-born energy, of power to renovate and 
purify, might once have vitalized it, had long since 
fled, leaving in their place only empty forms and 
vapid mummeries. Even the external respect paid 
to the institutes of Moses was a mere sham and 
mockery. Ceremonial requirements, tithes, fasts, 
ablutions — whether prescribed by tradition or orig- 
inally commanded — were observed with a scrupu- 
lousness as minute as it was inflexible ; while the 
living statutes of Jehovah, justice, mercy, and 
charity, were ignored and spurned. Hypocrisy, 
unbelief, bigotry, earthliness, reigned supreme. 

The God-man, whose omniscient glance read all 
hearts, knew well the dominant vices of Jerusalem, 
and the spiritual foulness that lurked under the veil 
of outward sanctity. He knew that its vaunted 
religiousness was vain and hollow, covering unfath- 
omed depths of guilt and baseness and pollution. 
He knew that the flagrant sins of the nation, its 
materialism, its worldliness, its pride, its moral 
insensibility, had their chief seat in the metropolis, 
and flourished there in rankest luxuriance. He 
knew that from its ecclesiastical authorities and its 
ruling sects had come the principal opposition to 
the Gospel which He taught. He knew that they 
had persisted in denying His claims against all the 



240 BIBLE PICTURES. 

light that blazed alike from His works and from His 
doctrines: and that, urged on by implacable hate 
and malice, they were ready to imbrue their hands 
in His blood. He knew that in the very Temple 
of His Father the leaders of the people were at that 
moment gathered plotting His death; that in the 
lordly palaces on Avhich His eye rested dwelt His 
future murderers ; and that along the pavements 
beneath Him would rush the brutal populace, hur- 
rying Him to the cross, and revelling in His ago- 
nies. Alas ! He also knew that among the multi- 
tude now encircling Him, and shouting hosannas to 
His name, were many who, when they found that 
their carnal expectations were not to be realized, 
would join as loudly in the infuriate cry, "Crucify 
Him! crucify Him ! " and mock Him on Golgotha 
as they now glorified Him on Olivet. 

Such was the dark picture which Jerusalem pre- 
sented to the virion of our Lord. Once the chosen 
of God, the city of His love, it had become vile and 
abominable — the home of Pharisaic self-idolatry 
and of Sadducean sensualism ; and soon to be the 
arena of the most awful wickedness which humanity 
has ever perpetrated. Thus He beheld it ; and it 
was because He so beheld it, and knew how return- 
less was the abyss into which it had plunged, that 
He wept over it. Its blinded population, following 
their blind religious guides, had rejected the Hope 



TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 241 

and Consolation of Israel. Vain had been all the 
concurring voices that proclaimed His Messiahship ; 
vain the announcements of prophecy ; vain the testi- 
mony of the angels ; vain the witness of the Father ; 
vain His wonder-works ; vain His words of more 
wondrous grace. Infatuated by the dream of an 
earthly kingdom, they shut their eyes to every 
proof of His Divine authority, and thrust from them 
the redemption which He proffered. The Deliverer 
promised to their fathers had appeared, and had 
sought their affiance. Incarnate Love had stood 
amongst them, inviting them to the living waters of 
holiness and happiness. But they knew not the 
time of their visitation. They scorned to enroll 
themselves as the subjects of a Prince invested with 
no material grandeur, and whose throne was only in 
the hearts of men. Their choice was deliberate and 
final ; and the hour of mercy passed from them for- 
ever. The measure of their iniquity, long filling, 
was now full ; and the fiat of doom went forth. By 
refusing to accept Christ as their Redeemer, they 
cut themselves off from the only refuge which 
Heaven had provided, and broke down the last 
barrier between them and destruction. Henceforth, 
the presence of God was withdrawn from the Sanc- 
tuary of Judaism ; the blessings of His Covenant 
were transferred from the Church of the Old Dis- 
21 



242 BIBLE PICTURES. 

pensatioD to the Church of the New ; and Jerusalem 
the apostate was given over to vengeance. 

What anguish must have swept over the mind of 
Jesus as He pondered this mournful fact ! He was 
a Jew. and felt all the characteristic reverence of a 
Jew for the sacred city of the nation. How intense. 
then, must have been His sorrow at its guilt, how 
deep His pity for its doom ! How must the Shep- 
herd of Israel have bewailed these myriad wander- 
er- from His Hock, whom even His voice could not 
call back, and whom His loving hands would never 
fold ! While, in His Divine consciousness. He 
viewed with holy complacency the justice of His 
Father's dealing; yet, as the Son of David, and as 
the Son of Man, His compassions gushed out toward 
incorrigible ones, whom grace and peace were 
to visit never more ! 

He wept over the city in view of what it might 
have been. True it is, that the disownment of 
Messiah by his countrymen, and His violent death 
at Jerusalem through the machinations of its rat 
had been distinctly foretold as important circum- 
stances in the expiation which lie was to oiler. 
38, the methods of God's purposes, and 
the predictions respecting them, are not arbitrary. 
but conditional, and readily adapt themselves to the 
luct of the human actors involved in their fulfil- 
ment. They are based, indeed, on a foreknowledge 



TEAKS AMID TRIUMPH. 243 

of that conduct ; but they do not so necessitate it 
by an unchangeable law, that men could not do 
otherwise even if they would. There* was nothing 
in the Divine plan of atonement — nothing in the 
ordained manner of bringing it to pass — which 
compelled the Jews to reject and crucify the 
Saviour. The unbelief and hardness of their hearts 
alone prevented them from embracing His Gospel, 
and coming under its redeeming power. That they 
might have done this, and so escaped the terrible 
condemnation which fell upon them, is manifest 
from the touching apostrophe in which our Lord 
upbraids their unwillingness to receive Him. " Oh, 
Jerusalem ! Jerusalem ! thou that killest the proph- 
ets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee: how 
often would I have gathered thy children together, 
as a hen gathereth her brood under her wings, and 
ye would not!" Ye would 'not! Here was the 
obstacle, and the only obstacle, which shut out the 
reprobate city from the Fountain of Life. Her own 
frowardness, and not the, decree of Heaven, decided 
her course. She might have welcomed her Messiah, 
and found in His sheltering love a safeguard against 
every peril. Oh, had she done this, how changed 
had been her destiny ! The Sun of Eighteousness 
would have swept the thunder-clouds from her sky, 
and shed salvation over her present and her future. 
Walking in His light, her children would have 



244 BIBLE PICTURES. 

inherited peace here, and eternal blessedness here- 
after. Consecrated anew by the great High Priest, 
she would again have become the peculiar residence 
of God ; the Shechinah would have returned to her 
Temple ; and Jerusalem the Holy, Jerusalem the 
Christian, would have been, through all the ages, 
the cynosure of the Gentiles, and the glory of the 
world. 

But these blissful possibilities were now lost, and 
lost be}'ond recovery. The things of her peace 
were hidden from her eyes. Never more would she 
see the Incarnate One standing in her rapt assem- 
blies, dispensing cures for the body, and healing 
balm for the soul. Never more would she look on 
that countenance of unearthly majesty and sorrow 

— never more hear that voice of celestial sweetness 

— never more listen to its tender pleadings — never 
more be invited by it to the Helper of the weak, 
and the Rest of the weary. Never more ! Never 
more ! Saddest of all words, expressing the saddest 
of all facts ! Oh ! it was this which drew forth the 
tears of Jesus, as He fixed His lingering, yearning 
gaze on the city, and thought of all that she might 
have been, of her wasted privileges, her forfeited 
mercies, her heaven-sent opportunities, now gone 
from her sight, to come back never more — never 
more ! 

Along with this glimpse of the bright history once 



TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 245 

possible to her, there rose before Hiin the appalling 
vision of what she would be. Whatever, side of the 
picture He surveyed, this was the awful back-ground 
which gloomed on His view^ His all-reaching ken 
took in every incident of her darkling career down 
to its close. He saw her God-abandoned leaders 
carrying out their schemes for His arrest and cruci- 
fixion. He saw her savage masses rushing to Cal- 
vary, thronging round His cross, feasting their mal- 
ice with His dying throes, insulting and reviling 
Him, while the earth rocked under their feet, and 
the heavens hung black above them. He saw her 
persecuting and murdering His followers, until the 
Gospel left her borders forever, and the echoes of 
its retreating footsteps were heard far away in the 
regions of Paganism. And then he saw her fearful 
end. He saw the woe and the horror gathering 
deeper and coming nearer. He saw the Roman 
legions enveloping her round about, and casting up 
a mount against her. He heard the din of battle, 
the hurtling crash of engines on rampart and tower. 
He heard, in all her dwellings, the moan of disease, 
and the wail of famine. He saw her sects and fac- 
tions slaughtering each other — daggers flashing 
everywhere — brothers falling by the hands of 
brothers. He saw her streets blocked up with un- 
buried corpses ; and heard the cry of her perishing 
thousands appealing in vain to the Just One who 

21* 



246 BIBLE PICTURES. 

had ceased to pity them. He saw her fortifications 
broken down, her inhabitants slain with the sword, 
her precious things given up to pillage. He saw 
her wrapped in flames and destroyed — her glorious 
Temple, her regal mansions, her walls, her very 
foundations laid low, till not one stone remained 
upon another. He saw Jerusalem the bloody, Je- 
rusalem the felon of the centuries, a heap of ashes ; 
and her children exiles in every land, without a 
home, a country, or a God forever more. So was 
her earthly sentence fulfilled. 

But there was another retribution, reserved for 
another world — a retribution invisible and spiritual 
— of which the visible calamities suffered here w T ere 
but types and foreshado wings. To this His mind 
glanced forward, and contemplated the souls of the* 
impenitent population undergoing it for eternity. 
While their day of mercy yet lasted, He had said to 
them, " If ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die 
in your sins — and whither I go, ye cannot come." 
He now saw that saying verified. He saw them 
dying in their sins, unrepentant, unbelieving, un- 
pardoned ; excluded by their very character from 
the heaven in which He was to reign ; and con- 
signed hopelessly to the realms of the lost ; there 
to expiate in everlasting punishment their rejection 
of the Only Saviour. 

Such are the several points of view in which we 



TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 247 

have ventured to represent our Lord as surveying 
the doomed metropolis of His nation. As when we 
see a noble manhood wrecked and ruined, we think 
with equal sorrow of its former excellence, its pres- 
ent degradation, its unused capacities for good, 
and the deeper gulf that lies before it ; so under the 
similar aspects of what it had been, what it was, 
what it might be, what it would be — all mournful 
— the compassionate .Jesus "beheld the city and 
wept over it." 

In what an affecting light does the scene which 
we have drawn set forth the sympathy and love of 
Christ ! Here the heart of our Divine Brother is 
laid bare before us. There is no feeling of wounded 
pride, of defeated ambition ; no anger against those 
who have repaid His kindness with contempt ; no 
hatred of the monstrous criminals who are about to 
steep their hands in His blood. Pity for their 
blindness, regret at their obduracy, and anguish in 
view of its fatal consequences to themselves, are 
the emotions which fill His bosom. And He has 
carried the same tender, forgiving, merciful heart 
up with Him to His throne of intercession. He 
weeps not now ; for earthly weeping cannot invade 
the serene height where He sits in His glory. But 
with a compassion fervent as that of old, He still 
regards the neglecters of His grace. As He looked 
from Olivet on sinful Jerusalem, so from the Hills 



248 BIBLE PICTURES. 

of Blessedness He looks down on this world rolling 
beneath His eye — this world which He spoke into 
being — this world for which He died — this world 
which derides His name, casts off His law, and 
tramples on His salvation. With what sleepless 
concern He watches the struggles of His cause ! 
And how must He almost feel Himself crucified 
afresh, when He sees the perversion of His doc- 
trine, the corruption of His Church, the baptized 
ungodliness of many who outwardly own Him as 
Lord, the carelessness, the impenitence, the unbe- 
lief of millions whom He has redeemed, and whom 
He longs to bring to His inheritance above ! O, 
backsliding one ! O, unconverted one ! The soul 
of the risen Jesus yearns over thee. He loves thee. 
He commiserates thee. He would save thee. Go 
to Him with sincere faith and lowly contrition. 
Confess thy waywardness, thy disobedience, thy 
ingratitude — all thou hast done to grieve Him. 
Joyfully will He rcceve you, and bestow on you 
the peace and hope and eternal life which His 
sorrows have purchased. 

The tears of Christ could not avert from Jerusa- 
lem the overwhelming judgment which her sins drew 
down. Her destruction came surely and speedily, 
though the Son of the Highest wept to behold its 
coming. Nor will His pity for the impenitent of 
our own day prevent their final condemnation, if 



TEARS AMID TRIUMPH. 249 

they persevere in setting Him at nought. He is 
unwilling that you should perish. He laments 
your guilt and your danger. But the lake of fire 
and the worm that never dies will be your portion 
all the same, unless you repent. His blood, applied 
by his Spirit, can alone redeem you from death, 
and prepare you for heaven. 



m 



CHAPTER Xn. 
TEZ 5TOHE DFOH THE GRAVE. 

HE isolation of Jesus was one of t 

r^v_:.rl-::." : i :- ::: . v. v_ -:..v: : : - :.: His "if- 



- /« row. Doubtless, the nature of His atoning 

H~ :_'.^ : : :i: : i :"_;.: H. sii.H.1 .-.::.:" :iir 

wine-press alone : but the tact is none the 
surprising and painful. That He, who was 
man's best Friend, should Himself hare had almost 
no friends ; that He, whose Divine heart was full of 
lore for all, should hare been loTed by few in return 
— is so singular, so unlike the ordinary outgoings 
of human affection, that we are at a loss with which 
to be most impro a Iness or its m 

It is. however, consoling to know that amid the 
creneral hatred which the Saviour experienced, there 
were some hearts sincerely attached to Hun, and 
here and there a home in which His presence was 
welcomed as a hallowed joy. One of these homes 
was in Bethany. It was no lordly mansion — the 
abode of some proud hierarch or rich Pharisee — 
but a plain cottage, quietly nestled among its em- 



THE STOXE UPOX THE GRAVE. 251 

bosoming vines and fig-trees. Here dwelt Lazarus, 
and his sisters, Martha and Mary. Simple in their 
tastes, content with their own little domain, they 
sighed not for the pomps and luxuries of the great 
city so near them. A loftier aspiration, a Hope 
rising to heaven, shut out its terrene ambitions from 
their hearts, as the intervening brow of Olivet hid 
its towers and palaces from their sight. They were 
Christians. They had heard the words of the Lord. 
They had seen His miracles. They accepted Him 
as the Messiah. They adored Him as the Son of 
God, and the Eedeemer of Israel. Their greatest 
pleasure was to entertain and serve Him ; their 
highest honor, to be accounted His friends. 

To this humble dwelling our Lord made frequent 
visits, and found rest and sympathy under its peace- 
ful shelter. And so strong was His regard for its 
inmates, so marked His interest in them, that it is 
emphatically said, "Jesus loved Martha, and her 
sister, and Lazarus." Happy home, where the 
Saviour has been a guest ! Happy household, 
where His love abides ! A blessing and a glory 
are yours, more precious than all the treasures of 
earth can bestow. 

But there is in this world no spot, however sa- 
cred, which affliction may not invade. Even the 
threshold over which the God-man had trodden was 
no bar to its entrance. Disease, fell and unsparing, 



252 BIBLE PICTURES. 

smote the brother of this cherished family. While 
Christ was prosecuting His work of mercy in the 
regions beyond the Jordan, the prayerful message of 
the sisters reached Him — as often similar prayers 
now reach Him in heaven — "Lord, behold he 
whom thou lovest is sick." Touching and urgent as 
the appeal was, He did not immediately answer it. 
The delay, however, arose not from any want of 
solicitude for the sufferers, or of ability to succor 
them, but from the counsels of Infinite Wisdom and 
Benevolence. In the Divine arrangements for dem- 
onstrating the truth of the Gospel, the sickness and 
death of Lazarus held an important place. They 
were designed to furnish occasion for a transcendent 
display of the Redeemer's power, for confirming the 
faith of His disciples, and giving to all the ages a 
proof of His Messiahshipj which no criticism can 
shake, and no sophistry evade. To allow scope for 
this purpose, the compassion of Jesus must be kept 
in abeyance till the appointed hour. Lazarus must 
die, that the Son of God might be glorified. So, 
when our own supplications for help and deliver- 
ance appear to meet no response, the seeming re- 
fusal is but the folding of Jehovah's arm, till the 
emphatic moment in which our need shall be the 
greatest, and in which His interposition will inspire 
the most thankful praise. 

When the time for Him to work was ripe, Jesus 



THE STONE UP OX THE GRAVE. 253 

with Hi? disciple? returned into Judea. and found, 
on Hi? arrival at Bethany, that Lazarus had already 
laid four daw? in the grave. A? He drew nigh to 
the town. Martha came out to meet Him. and gave 
vent to her feelings in word? expressive, nut only 
of grief, but of regret, almost of reproach. "Lord. 
if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died."' 
Still her confidence in Him was not wholly destroyed. 
Amid the cry of doubt, and the breathing? of com- 
plaint at what seemed to her like neglect on Hi? 
part, the accent? of faith broke forth, trembling yet 
clear. " But I know that even now whatsoever thou 
shalt a?k of God. God will give it thee.'" To de- 
velop and bring out thi? sentiment of trust that 
struggled in her heart, the Saviour uttered the ani- 
mating promise, "Thy brother shall rise again." 
And when ?he answered, " I know that he shall rise 
again in the resurrection at the last day " — inti- 
mating that she looked for no earlier rising — He 
added the sublime announcement. "I am the Resur- 
rection and the Life; he that believeth in Ale. 
though he were dead, yet shall he live again:" — 
thus affirming that,, a? the Author of all being, and 
Lord of the spirit-world, He could call back the 
departed when and how He pleased. The faith of 
Martha was greatly strengthened by a declaration so 
encouraging. To the que?tion of Jesus, "Believe?t 
thou this?" ?he at once re?ponded. "Yea, Lord. I 
22 



254 BIBLE PICTURES. 

believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, 
which should come into the world." Having said 
this, she went her way. And well she might. She 
had said all. With the utterance of such a convic- 
tion, she could leave her case in His hands, relyiug 
on His wisdom to determine what was best, and on 
His power to perform it. 

Comfortejcl herself, she hastens to her mourning 
sister, that she also might be comforted. Mary, 
not having yet heard of the Saviour's approach, was 
still sitting in the house, absorbed in her affliction ; 
while condoling friends strive in vain to cheer and 
sustain her. At the thrilling message, "The Mas- 
ter is come, and calleth for thee," she rises up, in 
all the eagerness of her quick and impressible na- 
ture, and flies to Him, swift as a wounded dove 
speeds to its sheltering nest. No sooner does she 
reach Him, no sooner does her eye rest on His 
adored face, than she is at His feet, bathing them 
with her tears. One wail of anguish for her dead 
brother — one touching lament at her Lord's ab- 
sence — and she is silent. She has found her Ref- 
uge. Her Master has come, and all must be well. 
How, she knows not, asks not. Enough for her that 
Christ the Compassionate, Christ the Omnipotent, 
stands before her, that she can clasp His knees, and 
lay her burden at His feet. Her tears still flow, 
but they are no longer bitter. Submission, reli- 



THE STOXE UPOX THE GRAVE. 255 

ance, hope, mingle with her sorrow, and take away 
its sting. 

The soul of the Redeemer is deeply moved. He 
who had conversed calmly with Martha, is overpow- 
ered at the sight of Mary's tears. "Jesus wept." 
Though He knew that His word would soon recall 
the buried one to life, He could not suppress His 
own grief at his death, nor restrain the outgushings 
of pity for the dear disciple on whom that death 
had brought such woe. What a proof is here that 
our great High Priest is Human as well as Divine ; 
that He shares in all the sinless affections of our 
nature, and can be touched with the feeling of our 
infirmities ! And what a striking manifestation of 
His wisdom in adapting consolation to the peculiar- 
ities of individual sufferers, may be seen in His 
interviews with the two sisters ! The different 
manner in which He receives them is precisely 
suited to the difference of their characters. He 
reasons with the practical, passionless Martha ; 
weeps with the loving, weeping Mary. Great 
words of truth are His medicine for the one ; sym- 
pathy, His balm for the other. 

Melting with compassion for the distress around 
Him — shaken by the waking Deity within Him — 
the God-man groans in spirit, and asks, R TVhere 
have ye laid him ? " At the reply, w Come and 
see," the sad march to the sepulchre commences. 



256 BIBLE PICTURES. 

Strange procession ! The wailing Jews, the sor- 
rowing sisters, the groaning Christ, going with 
travail and pain to the home of corpses, to seek 
Life in Death ! What a type of the journey ings 
of His Church alons; the track of the centuries tow- 
ards her final inheritance ! Onward she moves, 
age after age, host after host, through toil and 
tribulation, through battle and tears — onward to 
the Grave — to the Resurrection — to Immortality ! 
And how cheering is the thought that, as in this 
procession Christ was the Central Personage, so 
with every band of mourners carrying a believer to 
his rest, He still walks unseen, and pronounces over 
the place of corruption the conquering word, which, 
inaudible now, shall be heard and obeyed when the 
last trumpet sounds. 

The weeping group comes to the tomb. " It was 
a cave " — a chamber hewn in the rock — " and a 
stone lay upon it," closing the opening. At the 
command of Jesus, "Take ye away the stone," the 
wonted unbelief and earthliness of Martha, kept 
down for a time by higher views, spring up anew ; 
and forgetting the gracious purpose of her Lord, 
she protests against the impropriety of exposing 
remains that had been so long buried. The author- 
itative rebuke, " Said I not unto thee that, if thou 
wouldst believe, thou shouldst see the glory of 
God?" silences her misgivings, and renders her 



THE STONE UPON THE GRAVE. 257 

quiet and trustful again. There is a brief pause. 
All is hushed expectation and wondering awe. The 
Son of God gathers His power ; lifts a reverent, 
confiding eye to heaven ; whispers a low, grateful 
prayer to His Father ; and then the Almighty Voice, 
which spoke creation into birth, and shall yet un- 
lock the charnel houses, breaks out in thunder- 
tones, " Lazarus, come forth ! " That Voice pierces 
the dull ear of the dead ; the spirit returns to the 
mouldering frame ; the life-blood courses through 
the shrivelled veins ; the limbs heave and stir ; and 
the late occupant of the sepulchre appears at its 
mouth, with his burial garments about him — his 
pale lips opening with thanksgivings, and his glazed 
eye kindling with light, as he raises it in adoring 
homage to the face of His Deliverer. Loving hands 
unwind his grave-clothes. Loving arms fold him 
in a warm embrace. Loving hearts welcome him 
back to earth. Mourning is changed to joy. The 
dead is alive again ! 

There is a particular circumstance in this narra- 
tive, which it may be instructive to ponder. It will 
be remembered that when our Lord saw the stone 
lying upon the grave, He said to the attendants, 
"Take ye away the stone." Why did He require 
this ? T\ r as not the energy which could reanimate 
the dead, mighty enough to remove the barrier that 
shut in the sepulchre, without a resort to human aid ? 

22* 



258 BIBLE PICTURES. 

The slightest motion of Christ's hand, the lifting op 
of a finger, a word, a look, a thought, would have 
cast it into the depths of the sea. This would have 
been a far lighter thing than what He actually did 
do ; and the greater miracle might easily have in- 
cluded the less. For what reason, then, did He 
adopt a different course? TTe recognize here the 
working of a general law in the Divine administra- 
tion. God never does what /nan can do. They 
who stood around the grave of Lazarus could not 
raise him from the dead. But they could take 
away the stone ; and had they refused to do it — 
had they declined the facile achievement that lay 
within their power — who shall say that Omnipo- 
tence would have wrought the stupendous one which 
lay beyond? 

This principle is of universal application, pervad- 
ing alike the domains of nature and of grace. The 
husbandman cannot order the seasons, nor command 
the rain or the sunshine, nor cause a germ to shoot, 
a flower to expand, or a fruit to ripen. But he can 
till the ground, and sow the seed, and watch the 
irrowiuir harvest : and if he neglect to do this, God 
will not do it for him. Thus also in spiritual things, 
along with Divine agency, there is a human agency 
demanded and employed. While it is the province 
of Deity alone to renovate the hearts of men, and 
give efficiency and triumph to the Gospel, there are 



THE STOXE UP OX THE GRAVE. 259 

preparative an bb.1 ~: diary processes which belong 
to us. These are not the real power, but nee i - 
preliminaries to the putting forth of that power : not 
the great result, and yet are indispensable to that 
result. We cannot speak with the voice of the 
Spirit, and wake dead sinners into life: but we can 
take away the obstructions which lie between Him 
and the souls He would save. Until this is done, 
we cannot hope to see the outgoing of His might. 
God's w fins where man's work ends. 

The world is full of moral sepulchres — a wide 
Valley of Tombs — where countless multitudes are 
sleeijing the sleep of death, buried in guilt and con- 
demnation, with every spiritual faculty suspended, 
every bory affection extinct. And over each one 
of these sepulchres a si ne is laid, shutting out the 
light of truth, and the sweet breath of heaven. We 
see the lost millions of uuevangelized lands heaped 
together in the huge grave of Heathenism, covei 1 
by the great Stone of Darkness. Ignorance of 
of Christ, of the only Way of Salvation, presses them 
down, and bars from them the visitations of Mercy. 
In countries where the Gospel is known the graves :.: 3 
also very many. Everywhere, among rich and poor, 
high and low, cultivated and rude, in all rank-, all 
-. they -tand thick and crowded — the graves 
of the unbelievers, the graves of the impenitent, the 
graves of the godless. There are stones upon them 



260 BIBLE PICTURES. 

all — stones, which the professing church has placed 
there, and keeps there, by her supineness, her 
worklliness, her inconsistencies, her dissensions, 
her want of active consecration to her Master's 
cause. In this vast scene of moral putrefaction, by 
these sealed tombs of the unregenerate, Jesus 
stands, ready to display His grace, and cries to His 
people, "Take ye away the stones." Remove the 
obstacles that impede the victories of my cross. 
Be holy, be zealous, be prayerful. Labor to save 
souls. Preach my Gospel to the unconverted at 
home. Send it with liberal hand to the benighted 
abroad. Thus prepare the way, and my Spirit 
shall go forth conquering and to conquer. 

Followers of the Saviour, is there anything in 
your temper or practice — anything which you have 
done — anything which you have not done — that 
tends to deepen the slumber of the irreligious, and 
render them more inaccessible to the appeals of 
conscience and of God's word? "Take ye away the 
stone." Christian husbands, Christian wives, may 
there not be somewhat in you — some defect, some 
inconsistency, some lack in faith or prayer — that 
lessens the influence of religion on the minds of 
your impenitent companions ? " Take ye awa}' the 
stone." Christian fathers and mothers, arc you 
conscious of any failure in precept or example, that 
may serve to harden your children against the truth, 



THE STOKE UPON THE GRAVE. 2G1 

and confirm them in their carelessness ? M Take ye 
away the stone." Christian workers, Christian giv- 
ers, after all you have clone and are still doing, is 
there not some withholding of labor or of means, 
some shrinking back from your whole duty, that 
delays the coDquests of Divine Grace ? " Take ye 
away the stone." 

Oh, Church of the Eecleemer, bought with His 
blood ! How long shall He wait for thee to fulfil 
His behest ? How long shall His banner stay for 
thee to get ready for the battle ? How long shall 
He groan in spirit over the buried nations, yearning 
to see the travail of His soul ? Awake ! Do thy 
work ! Then Christ will do His ; and the voice 
that broke the sleep of Lazarus will break the sleep 
of a world. 




CHAPTER XIII. 

SINNERS WEIGHED. 

" Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found want- 
ing." — Dan. v. 21. 

NE principal cause why men are so ignorant 
of their real standing before God, and, there- 
fore, so indifferent to its consequences, is, that 
they very seldom inquire, with any degree of 
seriousness, into their own spiritual condi- 
tion. But this is not the only cause. Another, 
equally operative and fatal, may be found in the 
fact that they estimate themselves by false stand- 
ards. There are many who try their characters 
only at the bar of human law. If they infringe 
none of its requirements, they imagine that the 
claims of the Divine Law are equally answered, and 
that the righteous and all-seeing One, to whom they 
are responsible, pronounces on the in the same sen- 
tence of justification which they pronounce upon 
themselves. Another numerous class judge of their 
conduct solely by the maxims of society. If they 
violate no established custom ; if they do what is 
usually done by persons in their situation ; if they 

262 



SINNEES WEIGHED. 263 

observe the social moralities prescribed by the circle 
in which they move, and, in the worldly sense of 
the terms, are faithful to their domestic relations, 
honest in their dealings, correct and orderly as citi- 
zens — they are satisfied with their state, and fondly 
dream that their eternal welfare is secure. Others, 
again, examine themselves by the code of gentility. 
They belong to a class which boasts of its refine- 
ment and social elevation, and with which meanness 
and want of fashion are the only crimes. If, there- 
fore, they shun whatever is, in their opinion, low 
and degrading, abstain from all coarse and vulgar 
sins, and practise only such as are accounted respec- 
table and decorous — they deem this amply suffi- 
cient either for their reputation here, or their safety 
hereafter. 

Thus do the great mass of men, by the use of 
erroneous tests, acquire views of their moral condi- 
tion and prospects that are utterly groundless. In 
the expressive language of an Apostle, " measuring 
themselves by themselves, and comparing them- 
selves among themselves, they are not wise." They 
arrive at no just conclusions respecting their own 
character in the sight of God, or their position in 
reference to the awards of the eternity that lies 
before them ; but amidst all the light which Kevela- 
tion pours around them, and flashes into their souls, 



I i BIBLE PICTURES. 

" continue shrouded in a deep and ruinous self- 
ignorance. 

And hence it is. that while t ? of Inspired 

Truth thunders in their ears the startling declara- 
tion, that they, in common with our whole apostate 
race, have sinned, and come short of the glory of 
I; that their hearts and all their ways are >- 
trai;_ I :: >m holiness; that, in their unregenerate 

- 1, without one sol 
tion. to the penalty of eternal death ; and that, un- 

they repent and believe in Christ, they m 
inevitably sutler that penalty — they yet remain 
deaf to the announcement, and heedless of the aw 
hicfa it proclaims. II •.. :: is, I 

while the merciful Redeemer invites them to come 
r salvation ; offers them the blood of 
nement to expiate their sins, and the energy of 
His Spirit to renew their polluted natures -me 

their corruptions, an m, in safety and tri- 

umph, to the mansions of i :ng Life — tl 

still live on in unconcern, disregarding every warning 
and . under the vain persuasion that 

their tr ~_ ssi s, even it tl. mnuttod 

any. have been few and trivial, and are more 
than compensated by the numerous virtu :iich 

they 

It has seem me, therefore, that I cannot 

render you a mc rvice, than to assist 



SINXEIiS WEIGHED. 2G5 

you to break away from these delusions, and to form 
a correct aud Scriptural estimate of yourselves as 
you appear iu the view of that omniscient Being 
with whom you have to do. Such shall be my 
present endeavor. To attain this end, we must lay 
aside all those false methods of judgment which you 
have been accustomed to employ, and which can 
only deceive you to your undoing, and bring for- 
ward, in their place, " the Balances of the Sanctu- 
ary " — the true criterion of moral character, — 
which God has made known in His TTorcl, and by 
which He will determine our final destiny. These 
Balances were made in heaven ; and they possess 
all the accuracy and truthfulness which belong to 
that perfect world. The results which they give 
are certain — their decisions infallible. And that 
none of us might be ignorant either of their exist- 
ence or of their nature, they have been clearly de- 
scribed in the Sacred Volume, as the standard by 
which we are to try ourselves now, and according to 
which, in the great day of account, our Sovereign 
Judge will deal out to us the recompense of endless 
happiness or of endless misery. The Divine Gov- 
ernment — a government founded in absolute right, 
and extending over all beings and all worlds — is 
the golden beam from which these balances hang ; 
Truth and Equity are the scales ; and the Law and 
the Testimony of God are the weights by which the 

23 



266 BIBLE PICTURES. 

question of worth or of demerit, of acceptance or 
of condemnation, is to be decided. Nor can there 
be any deception in the process, or any mistake in 
the issue ; for " a just weight and balance are the 
Lord's." 

Many people find a sort of fascination in being- 
weighed. You may often see groups of persons, es- 
pecially of the young, collected in places where the 
requisite apparatus is kept, stepping one after an- 
other upon the scales, and receiving the result, as 
it is announced, with laughter and merriment. I 
invite you, my dear readers, to come and be weighed. 
Weighing the heart and the life may not be as 
amusing an operation as that of ascertaining the 
gravity of bones and muscles. But it is not on 
that account the less important and needful. To 
know how much your bodies weigh is of little mo- 
ment compared with knowing the weight of your 
souls ; how you stand in God's reckoning ; and in 
what manner your course in this world is bearing 
on the retributions of another. Let me, then, call 
up one by one several prominent classes, and subject 
them to the test of these Celestial Balances. 

Come hither, thou dead professor, and be weighed. 
In outward belonging, thou art a member of the 
Household of Faith. Thou hast received the sealing 
waters of baptism, and the vows of a public consecra- 
tion to Christ are upon thee. But thy whole relig- 



SIXXERS WEIGHED. 267 

ious history gives mournful proof, that thou hast no 
other union with Him than through the church- 
books. There has been, perchance, an epoch in 
your experience when, for a brief season, your 
mind was slightly awakened to eternal realities, and 
you felt something of " the powers of the world to 
come." These stirrings of conscience or of natural 
fear were interpreted by you as evidences of a change 
of heart ; and, under this delusion, you believed 
yourself a Christian, and assumed a place among 
the people of God. But that transient excitement 
faded long ago ; and ever since, your spiritual be- 
ing has been as silent and lifeless as the Sea of 
Gomorrah. It is a cold, drear, stagnant expanse, 
broken by no wave of holy emotion, ruffled by no 
wind of anxiety, rippled by no flow of sanctified 
desire, gilded by no sunshine from heaven. There 
is not in your bosom any conscious working of love 
to the Saviour and compassion for perishing men — 
nothing of that welling up of gracious affections 
which is always present when piety has its living 
fountain in the soul. You never manifest any ac- 
tive power of faith and zeal. Your daily walk 
witnesses no efforts to glorify your Master by lead- 
ing sinners to His Cross. The closet and the family 
altar know you not, or know you but as an infre- 
quent and formal visitor. Your face, though often 
seen in worldly gatherings, would scarcely be rec- 



268 BIBLE PICTURES. 

ognized in the place of social devotion. In the 
house of God itself you are almost a stranger, com- 
ing as seldom as a regard to appearances will 
permit, and often absenting yourself for months 
together, from indolence, or caprice, or some paltry 
difficulty about a seat. This is your religion — at 
least, this is the religion you exhibit — and we are 
authorized by Scripture to infer that the religion 
which comes out of a man is of a piece with that 
which stays in him. 

Now, I take this religion of yours, and put it in 
one scale, and in the other I put against it this 
weight from the Testimony of God, "If any man 
have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His ; " and 
then this other ; " If any man be in Christ, he is a new 
creature." And to both I add one more. "Know 
ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in 
you, except ye be reprobates?" If Christ were in 
you, would it be possible for you so to hide Him 
that not even the hem of His garment should ever 
appear? Would not some partial glimpses of Him 
break forth at times through the thick incrustations 
of indifference and apathy ! Any one can see the 
worldling in you ; but who sees the Christ ? There 
is no Christ in your life ; and well may you fear that 
there is no Christ in your heart. Your profession of 
godliness is proved by the trial to be light as air, and 
empty as a summer cloud ; and the finger of Inspi- 



SIXXEXS WEIGHED. 269 

ration writes out the result. " Thou hast a name 
that thou livest, and art dead." Oh, how many 
there are whose portraiture has now been given — 
" trees without fruit" — clouds without rain — mem- 
bers of the Church, but not members of Christ — 
disciples in title, but wanting in all the vital princi- 
pies and characteristics of disciples indeed ! May 
God in mercy awaken them to a perception of their 
real state, and bring them to the knowledge of true 
and saving grace, before the revelations of the 
Judgment shall burst upon them, and they are 
summoned to a scrutiny, from whose verdict there 
is no appeal, and from whose condemnation there is 
no escape ! 

I next call up the man with a secret hope. Here 
let me say, however, that I do not wish the wrong 
person to come. There are two classes of individ- 
uals, broadly distinguished from each other, to 
which the designation I have used may properly 
be applied. TTe often meet with those who enter- 
tain a trembling persuasion that they have passed 
from death unto life ; but who cannot feel sufficient 
confidence in the reality of the change to venture 
on its public avowal. They are penitent, sincere, 
humble. They place no reliance on any merits of 
their own. They see and believe that the only 
refuge of a sinner is in the atoning sacrifice of 
Jesus ; and they often feel their hearts drawn out 
23* 



270 BIBLE PICTURES. 

toward Him as their only trust, and their highest 
joy. But they are so full of doubts and self-ques- 
tionings as to their interest in Him — so diffident 
of their own steadfastness, and of their power to 
resist temptation — that they hesitate to profess His 
name before men. They shrink from taking up His 
Cross, not because they dread its burden, but be- 
cause they fear to dishonor it. They love the as- 
semblies of the saints, and linger with a fond though 
sad sympathy around the scene of their hallowed 
communion. But they dare not become personal 
participants in that communion, lest they should 
profane it by their unworthiness. There are many 
such — and some such are doubtless before me now. 
They are Christ's own, however uncertain their 
adoption may appear to themselves. Instead of 
seeking to increase that self-distrust, which in their 
case is already too great, I would address to them 
words of assurance and consolation, and direct them 
to that compassionate Redeemer, who will not 
break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking 
flax, and who sees, and will in His own time 
strengthen and bring out the grace, which the 
fearful heart trembles to acknowledge. 

But here is one of altogether another stamp. 
He too has an unproclaimed hope — a hope which 
he keeps concealed, not from any doubt of its gen- 
uineness, but from a want of interest in spiritual 



SINNEBS WEIGH ED. 271 

things, and a controlling preference for the world. 
Doubt as to the genuineness of his hope ! He 
never doubts. Enough there is to make him doubt. 
No onlooker would ever suspect him of being pious ; 
and in his whole spirit and conduct he can rind no 
warrant for thinking himself so. Yet he does think 
so. He does imagine himself to be a child of God. 
And this imagination it is that blunts the edge of 
conscience, and turns aside the arrows of truth. 
Speak to him about the welfare of his soul, the need 
of conversion, and the importance of seeking it 
without delay. He will draw himself up, and com- 
placently tell you, that he has been converted : that 
at some misty, perhaps remote period of the past, 
he believes that he experienced religion, and has re- 
tained that belief ever since. If you ask him why 
he has never owned the Saviour by uniting with His 
people, he answers, with a careless toss of the head, 
"Oh, a man can be as good a Christian out of the 
church as in it." Were he honest, he would say 
that the true reason of his not making a public pro- 
fession was, that he wished to avoid the obligations 
to self-denial and holiness which it involves, and 
to live a life of irreligion and carnal ease, under the 
soothing expectation that his hidden hope will wake 
up at death, and give him a sure passport to the 
mansions of blessedness. 

Bring that hope here, and cast it into the scale, 



272 BIBLE PICTUBES. 

and you will soon see what it is worth. Ponder the 
weights which I place against it. "With the heart 
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the 
mouth confession is made unto salvation." "He that 
is ashamed of Me and of My words, of him will I 
be ashamed before My Father and His holy angels." 
"Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after 
me, cannot be my disciple." " Whosoever shall con- 
fess Me before men, him will I also confess before 
My Father who is in heaven. But whosoever shall 
deny Me before men, him will I also deny before 
My Father who is in heaven." Tried by such tests, 
what is your hope? It is a spider's web, a dream, 
a phantom, that will vanish, and leave you succor- 
less in the hour when you need it most. 

Stand forth, thou self-righteous man, and be 
weighed. Collect in one mass all the meritorious 
qualities and deeds in which thou confidest, and 
bring them to the proof of God's unerring balance. 
Oh, what a bundle ! You carry a load of goodness 
huger than the load of sin which clum? to the shoul- 
ders of Bunyan's pilgrim. But, before we proceed 
to weigh this bundle, let us open it, and see what it 
contains. Here is a whole web of Honesty. With 
your permission, we will unroll it, and ascertain its 
character. At the first glance, it looks very fair. 
The threads are fine, the texture apparently firm 
and even. But stop! what is this? Here is a 



SUTTEES WEIGHED. 273 

wide cut right in the middle of the cloth ; and close 
beside it, I read, in glaring capitals, "Sharp Bar- 
gains." Investigating further, we perceive that the 
entire fabric is frayed and torn, and defaced with 
stains and blemishes, which, as we survey them 
more narrowly, shape themselves into words like 
these : " Tricks in trade " — " Scant measures " — 
"Light weights" — "Adulterated articles sold for 
pure " — " Government taxes charged to the cus- 
tomer." That is enough. Your honesty is not 
immaculate. 

Here is another piece, labelled "Upright Con- 
duct." This, too, judging from the outside, seems 
to be all right. But let us unfold it, and examine 
it in a better light. As the world goes, it is not 
bad. There is no trace of flagrant crime — no soil 
from theft and robbery — no blood-stain of murder 
— no foul pollution left by drunkenness and de- 
bauchery. Ah ! there is a dirt-spot. That is where 
you told a lie. There is a hole. That is where 
you swore. There is a broad rent. That is where 
you broke the Sabbath. And there it is all snarled 
and twisted up. That is where you got in a pas- 
sion, and put your whole household in a coil. With 
nothing that tells of outrageous guilt, your boasted 
uprightness is defiled throughout by little sins, 
improprieties, defects, omissions, short-comings, 



274 BIBLE PICTURES. 

which render it utterly worthless as a claim for 
justification with God. 

But what have we here, right in the centre of 
the budget ? A monstrous bladder, inflated to its 
utmost tension, and marked "Self-conceit!" We 
need not untie it. We know what is in it — air, 
nothing but air. No wonder your bundle looked so 
large ! But puff it up and swell it out as you may 
with the breath of delusion, and the gas of false- 
hood, you cannot deceive that omniscient Eye which 
watches all your doings. Why, such goods would 
not impose even upon the dull optics of an army 
inspector. They are shoddy all through. And dare 
you subject them to the gaze of that Holy and 
Heart-searching Judge, whose glance pierces all 
disguises, and whose holiness will tolerate no imper- 
fection? Have you considered what you must do, 
and what you must be, in order to be saved by a 
righteousness of your own? Does not Scripture 
assure you that, " whosoever shall keep the whole 
law, and yet offend in one point, is guilty of all"? 
And is it not clear, from the whole tenor of Divine 
teaching, that you can be accepted on the basis of 
human merit, only by presenting, at the bar of Infi- 
nite Purity, a heart perfect toward God and man, 
and an obedience spotless in motive, and complete 
in act? Can the good works, in which you trust, 
endure such a criterion ? If you still deem them of 



SINNEES WEIGHED. 275 

value, and insist on their being weighed, lay them 
iu the scales. There is no lack of means in God's 
storehouse by which to try them ; for, as Solomon 
tells us, "all the weights in the bag are His work." 
Here is one. " There is a generation that is pure in 
its own eyes, but is not washed from its filthiness." 
Here is another. "Ye are they which justify }^our- 
selves before men ; but God knoweth your hearts ; 
for that which is highly esteemed among men, is 
abomination in the sight of God." And here is 
another. "Thou sayest, I am rich, and increased 
with goods, and have need of nothing ; and knowest 
not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and 
poor, and blind, and naked." Hear, then, the de- 
cision which the Supreme Arbiter gives forth. 
"All thy righteousnesses are as filthy rags," and 
"thy goodness extendeth not to Me." 

Yonder is one who expects to be saved because 
he has a good heart. Pass up that heart, and let 
us weigh its excellence. Well, it surely is a fine 
heart, round, large, full of grand impulses and 
activities — a noble heart — would there were more 
such in the world. It has, you perceive, an earth- 
ward and a heavenward side. Let ns look at its 

. earthward side. How warm and living is all here ! 
And what a record may one read here of the admi- 
rable qualities yet remaining in our fallen nature ! 

' Deeply stamped on its surface, you may see the 



276 BIBLE PICTURES. 

names of father, mother, brother, sister, wife, child ; 
and, underneath, the quick blood of affection and 
kindness gushing and playing ; while every nerve 
and artery is instinct with high aspirations, with 
generous sentiments, with scorn of meanness, with 
sympathy for the poor and the oppressed, with the 
throbbings of honor, manliness, and truth. Turn 
we now to the heavenward side. Alas, it is blank ! 
There is no God, no Christ, no spiritual longings, 
no celestial tendencies. The outer covering is dry 
and hard ; and within, no vital fluid circulates, no 
pulse of holiness beats,, no emotions of penitence 
and faith and love are ever felt. It is a heart alive 
to man, but dead to its Maker — a heart, pure and 
bright as it looks to time, but leprous and dark as 
it looks to eternity. 

Such a heart was once brought to the great Mas- 
ter Weigher, when He sojourned in flesh. A young 
man, of amiable disposition and praiseworthy de- 
portment, came to Him, inquiring what he should 
do that he might inherit eternal life. "And Jesus, 
beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, One 
thing thou lackest — go, sell all that thou hast, and 
come, take up thy cross and follow me, and thou 
shalt have treasure in heaven." Here was the touch- 
stone. He drew back, sorrowful yet determined, 
from the proposal to surrender the possessions of 
earth for the rewards of immortality ; and that ^ 



SINNEBS WEIGHED. 277 

heart, so faultless in its human relations, was found 
to be torpid to all spiritual impressions, and antago- 
nistic to every influence from above. And so it is 
with your heart. Can you., then, still call it good ? 
Destitute as it is of every element of grace — void 
as it is of all love to your Creator and your Re- 
deemer — can it merit, in the slightest degree, the 
approval of Him, whose first and highest command 
is, "My son, give Me thine heart"? Oh, no, no. 
"Thou art weighed in the balances, aud art found 
wanting." "Except a man be born again, he can- 
not see the kingdom of God." Thou hast not been 
born again — thy soul has not been quickened and 
energized by power from on high; and, therefore, 
however rich in natural endowments, it is unpre- 
pared for the preternatural and divine glories of the 
upper world. 

Let us, finally, place in these Divine Scales the 
pretensions of that vast multitude who build their 
hope of final safety on the fact that God is so mer- 
ciful. It is a glorious truth — a truth made known 
in the Gospel under every form of expression, and 
proclaimed with the utmost emphasis, that the Most 
High is tender and pitiful to the children of men, 
and has no pleasure in their misery. Yet it is also 
a truth, revealed not less distinctly, and asseverated 
not less solemnly, that He has been pleased to set 
apart a particular method for the manifestation of 

24 



278 BIBLE PICTURES. 

His mercy, and has ordained that it shall flow forth 
to our fallen race only through the propitiation of 
His Son. He has appointed Him to be our Medi- 
ator and Substitute ; and it is an irreversible law -of 
His administration, that pardon and eternal life 
shall be dispensed to those alone who become par- 
takers of Christ by repentance and faith. To such 
He is indeed merciful. To all others He is a God 
of justice, and a consuming fire. 

But the persons, of whom I now speak, rest on 
the mercy of God as an independent attribute of 
His nature, separate from the provisions of the 
atonement, and irrespective of all moral conditions. 
They expect to be saved, not because they are con- 
trite for their sins, and have fled to Jesus for refuge, 
but simply because God is merciful. Whether they 
admit or deny the need of an atonement — whether 
they admit or deny that an atonement has been 
offered — is in their view of little account; it is not 
on the atonement that they rely, but on the assump- 
tion that the Almighty is too full of compassion 
ever to doom them to wretchedness. They may 
believe that Christ died as a sacrifice for sin, or 
they may regard the whole story of human redemp- 
tion as a fable and a myth ; they may assent in 
theory to the doctrine of future retribution, or they 
may may reject it altogether — still, under every 
phase of misbelief or of unbelief, their argument, 



SINNEKS WEIGHED. 279. 

their defence, their shelter, is always the same — 
"God is too merciful to punish us." 

Now let us bring this hypothesis to the proof. 
You say that a God, whose loving-kindness is infi- 
nite, can never suffer the souls which He has created 
to be lost. I lay that assertion in the Balance of 
Inspired Truth ; and I test its correctness by these 
declarations from the lips of God Himself. " If ye 
will not believe, surely ye shall not be established." 
"He that belie veth and is baptized, shall be saved: 
but he that believeth not shall be damned." "He 
that believeth on Him is not condemned ; but 
he that believeth not is condemned already, be- 
cause he hath not believed in the name of the Only 
Begotten Son of God." "He that believeth on the 
Son hath everlasting life ; and he that believeth not 
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God 
abideth on him." "Neither is there salvation in 
any other ; for there is none other name under 
heaven given among men whereby they may be 
saved." "The wicked shall be turned into hell." 
They " shall go away into everlasting punishment." 
They " shall be cast into hell, where their worm dieth 
not, and the fire is not quenched." They " shall be 
punished with everlasting destruction from the pres- 
ence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power." 
How baseless does your confidence in the abstract 
mercy of God appear, when confronted with an- 



280 BIBLE PICTURES. 

nouncemeuts like these ! O man ! whoever thou 
art that hopest for salvation out of Christ, M Thou 
art weighed in the balances, and art found want- 
ing." 

It is needless to expose further the multiform and 
countless delusions by which the impenitent heart 
attempts to allay its fears, and to find peace in its 
guilt. The trial in every case would give the 
same answer. Whether men are sinners within 
the church or sinners out of it ; whether they are 
grossly profane or decently moral ; whether they 
are afloat on the wild sea of Infidelity, or, while 
still mooring themselves to a speculative faith in 
the Gospel, neglect all its invitations and all its 
commands — they are alike under condemnation; 
and the rotten and ever-shifting materials with 
which they strive to build up a foundation of lies, 
will be as stubble when God shall lay judgment to 
the line, and righteousness to the plummet. 

Ouce more we resort to these Sacred Scales, but 
with a momentous change in the ingredients and 
relations of the process. Let us heap together, in 
the one side, all the demands of God against the 
sinner — His Holy Law broken and dishonored — 
His majesty insulted — His authority disregarded — 
His love despised — His grace rejected. A fearful 
pile ! What mortal strength must not be crushed 
under its burden ! Let us now place in the other 



SIXXEES WEIGHED. 281 

side everything which the sinner can bring to offset 
this tremendous bulk of Divine claims and penal- 
ties. But what has he to bring? In his whole 
inward and outward history, what is there that can 
have the slightest influence on the decision nt issue ? 
Nothing — absolutely nothing. A few raffs of nat- 
nral virtue — a few fragments of works, all foul 
with the depravity from which they spring — a few 
resolutions forgotten as soon as made — a few 
groundless and insincere excuses — what are these 
with which to meet the dreadful array that stands 
opposed to him? The upshot is certain ; and the 
universe watches, with a shudder, the trembling- 
scale, expecting, the next instant, to see it fly up- 
ward, and to hear the irrevocable doom pronounced 
that is to consign the soul to perdition. 

But at this moment of awful suspense there ap- 
pears upon the scene a form, born of heaven though 
dwelling on the earth, clad in robes newly washed, 
white and clean. There is a shadow on her coun- 
tenance as from peril escaped, and a tinge of sorrow 
as for sins repented and forsaken, yet remembered 
still. But her eye, far-seeing and uplifted ever to 
her native skies, is bright with hope, and over every 
feature spreads the calm radiance of holy trust. 
Her name is Faith. She bears in her hand what 
seems a gem, clear, pure, and shining with the red 
lustre of the ruby. Small, and unimposing in as- 

21* 



282 BIBLE PICTURES. 

pect, it has the weight of a thousand worlds. It is 
Blood — the Blood of Atonement — the Blood of 
the Lamb. She casts it into the scale of the sinner 
— and, lo ! all is changed. The great mountain of 
man's guilt and of God's wrath melts away. The 
claims of Eternal Rectitude are satisfied. The 
mighty debt of sin is cancelled. The scales hang 
at an even poise. And Justice, who presides over 
the trial, relaxes his stern brow, and with a smile 
sweet as the face of Mercy, writes upon the golden 
beam above — Balanced. 



CHAPTEE XIV. 

FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 
"But Peter followed him afar off." — Matt. xxvi. 58. 

'T is a striking circumstance, that we may find, 
among the original Disciples of our Lord, the 
type and representative of nearly every variety 
of character which His professing people have 
since exhibited. In Judas, who through his 
love for the wages of unrighteousness betrayed his 
Master, we perceive a mournful resemblance to that 
numerous class, who, influenced by worldly gain 
and advantage, sell the Lord that bought them, 
violate their most sacred obligations to Him, and 
abandon His bleeding cause to the malice of its 
enemies. In James and John, when, incensed at 
the hostility of the Samaritans, they desired to call 
down fire from heaven to consume them, we dis- 
cover a likeness to those hot and reckless zealots, so 
abundant in our own times, who, if they cannot 
convert the world in a day, or compass great moral 
revolutions by a mere wave of the hand, are ready 
to thunder forth anathemas against all whom they 

283 



284 BIBLE PICTURES. 

imagine to stand in their wa}^, or not to eonae with 
sufficient promptness to their aid. In the two Dis- 
ciples, who sought from Christ that they might sit 
the one on His right hand and the other on His left 
in His kingdom, we have a picture of those ambi- 
tious spirits, whose opinions and measures must 
always be followed, and who can never be quiet in 
a church, if they cannot rule there. The incredu- 
lous Thomas, who would not believe that his Lord 
was risen from the dead, unless he could see Him 
with his eyes, and put his linger into the print of the 
nails in His hands, and the mark of the spear in His 
side — resembles but too closely the great body of 
professors at the present clay, who walk by sight, 
not by faith ; who can repose no confidence in the 
promises of God without sensible proof; who can 
have no enjoyment in the absence of impulse, and 
manifestations, and visions ; and who cannot be in- 
duced to put forth a single effort for the prosperity 
of Zion, except under the excitement of overwrought 
and abnormal feeling, or the stimulus of immediate 
success. And especially does the conduct of Peter, 
referred to in the text, who, on the night of the Sav- 
iour's arrest, "followed Him afar off," indicate 
most accurately the moral position of vast numbers 
that bear the name, and have assumed the responsi- 
bilities, of Christ's disciples. On every side may be 
seen multitudes who, though they have sworn alle- 



FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 285 

giance to the Saviour, and solemnly engaged to 
walk in His steps, yet keep, in all their principles 
and practice, at a deplorable distance from Him, 
and pursue a course so devious and uncertain as to 
render it doubtful whether they are following Him 
at all. 

To describe the characteristics of this state, and 
the evils to which it leads, is my present purpose. 

The first characteristic of those who follow the 
Lord afar off, is a dim and distant view of His 
atoning sacrifice. This was very clearly shown in 
the language and conduct of Peter a few days 
before the Saviour's crucifixion. When Christ 
informed His disciples that He must suffer death, 
and be raised again the third day, Peter " rebuked 
Him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord ; this shall 
not be unto thee." In this protest, a personal re- 
gard for his Master had doubtless no small share. 
Yet we cannot but perceive that it betrays a very 
indistinct conception of what Christ came to do, and 
of the necessity that He should seal the Covenant 
of Redemption with His blood. Had his views on 
this point been full and clear, no degree of love to 
his Lord could have induced him to give utterance 
to such expressions. However deeply his affection- 
ate feelings might have been shocked at the pros- 
pect of the Saviour's sufferings, he would have 
bowed in silent submission to the will of Heaven, 



286 BIBLE PICTURES. 

and rejoiced, even amidst his grief, that thus sin 
was to be expiated, and the Fountain of Mercy un- 
sealed to a perishing world. And it was, beyond 
question, the imperfection of his faith in this respect 
which led to his subsequent misconduct. Having 
no strong and definite impression of the great truth, 
that the Redeemer could triumph only through the 
Cross, — when he saw Him in the hands of His ene- 
mies, he regarded His cause as lost, and gave up 
every hope connected with His mission. Still, he 
was too sincerely attached to his Master to desert 
Him altogether ; and, therefore, he followed Him 
afar off, afraid to cleave to Him closely, and yet 
unwilling wholly to forsake Him. Oh ! had he but 
seen that the humiliation of Christ was only the 
dark and painful process, by which the salvation of 
men and the glory of God were to be wrought out, 
how differently Avould he have felt and acted ! He 
would have remained fast by the side of His Lord 
when he was apprehended. He would have entered 
with Him into the presence of the assembled rulers. 
And at His crucifixion, he would have stood beneath 
His Cross, gazing with a calm though sorrowful 
eye upon the awful tragedy in which Divine Jus- 
tice was vindicated, and Redemption secured. 

As it was with Peter, so it is with those in the 
present day who follow the Lord afar off. Their 
minds are not properly impressed with the impor- 



FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 287 

fence and indispensableness of the work of Atone- 
ment. At the period of their professed conversion, 
they had no adequate sense of the evil of sin, the 
holiness of God, the purity of His law, and the 
absolute impossibility of pardon and justification, 
except by the merits of a crucified Mediator. 
Hence they did not firmly embrace the Propitiation 
of Christ as their only hope. Their conviction of 
sin being slight, they realized but feebly their need 
of the Saviour, and reposed in Him a faith vague in 
its nature, and partial in its influence. It is only 
through a deep, vital consciousness of its utter cor- 
ruption and ruin, and of the sufficiency of Christ 
alone to meet its necessities, that the soul can be 
brought to cast itself unreservedly into His arms, 
and to cling there in intimate and living fellowship 
with Him. And as this consciousness was awak- 
ened in them but imperfectly at first, and has not 
been strengthened since, their religious life began, 
and so has continued, at a melancholy remove from 
Him who is its vivifying Centre. Like those remote 
planets, whose orbits, though within the sphere of 
the sun's attraction, are too distant to feel the fervor 
of his beams ; so they revolve in a wide circuit 
around the Sun of Righteousness, — held by a faith' 
too strong to allow them wholly to depart from 
Him, and yet too weak to draw them into that 
blessed proximity, where the warmth of His re- 



288 BIBLE PICTURES. 

deeming love would fill their hearts with light, 
holiness, and joy. 

A second characteristic of the class we are describ- 
ing, is self-confidence. When Peter was forewarned 
by his Lord, that "Satan desired to have him that 
he might sift him as wheat," instead of manifesting 
any sense of his danger, or of his liability to fail in 
the conflict, he boldly replied, "I am ready to go 
with Thee into prison, and to death." Alas! he 
little thought how soon experience would prove his 
weakness, and the vanity of his best resolutions, 
when the supporting presence of His Master was 
withdrawn. 

A similar spirit is often exhibited by careless and 
negligent professors in our own times. They fear 
not the wiles of the Adversary. They have no 
dread of temptation. They imagine that no pres- 
sure of trial, no severity of sacrifice, no force of 
solicitation, will ever cause them to blench from the 
path of Christian consistency. Hence they are not 
watchful over their hearts, nor circumspect in their 
lives. Their religious feelings may decline almost 
to extinction ; but they see it not. Their outward 
conduct may approach the very limits of immoral- 
ity ; and yet they are unconscious of peril. Beck- 
less and confident, they roam amidst the mazes of 
the world ; exposing themselves to all its snares ; 
adopting its principles ; fraternizing with its vota- 



FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 289 

ries, and following in the wake of its dissipations — 
as if to show how near they can go to the edge of a 
precipice, without falling over it. 

Now, if this feeling of security arose from a sim- 
ple trust in the Saviour, and a well grounded, scrip- 
tural persuasion that He will guard and uphold them 
through all the dangers which beset their path — 
that feeling would be itself a pledge of safety. But 
it is, in their case, the offspring of carnal presump- 
tion, and of proud dependence on themselves ; and 
so is a proof, not of nearness to Christ, but of dis- 
tance from Him. Nearness to Christ gives us a 
just sense of our own poverty and emptiness, and 
enlarged views of His fulness, grace, and mercy. 
We see how great, good, and powerful He is ; how 
vile and feeble are we ; and, with humble and child- 
like reliance, we look to Him for all needful help 
and protection. But, living afar from Christ, we 
become inflated with pride, and an overweening 
opinion of our own wisdom, strength, and suf- 
ficiency. As when the sun is lowest, and most 
remote from us, our own shadows appear the larg- 
est, while they contract under his micl-day beams ; 
so, with Christ far down in our spiritual horizon, 
our virtues expand into unreal dimensions, but are 
dwarfed, forgotten, lost, as we stand, rapt and 
adoring, beneath His full-orbed, meridian bright- 
ness. 

25 



290 BIBLE PICTURES. 

Those who "follow the Lord afar off" are usually 
characterized by a worldly temper. This was 
prominently displayed in the case of Peter. When 
His Master was arrested, he cried out, " Lord, shall 
we smite with the sword ? " — and without waiting 
for an answer, drew his sword, and smote off the 
ear of the high priest's servant. There spoke and 
acted the spirit of the world — the spirit of resist- 
ance, retaliation, vengeance. What multitudes of 
professing Christians now manifest the same dispo- 
sition ! Backward and sluggish in all that relates to 
their own spiritual improvement or to that of others, 
they are prompt and active in everything that has 
to do with strife and division. Let discord arise in 
a church, and who will be most busy in fanning the 
flame ? Those whose aid and sympathy have most 
cheered the pastor ; whose presence and labors have 
most enlivened the Sabbath School and the circle of 
prayer, and whose efforts and contributions for the 
spread of the Gospel, at home and abroad, have 
been most liberal and ♦ constant ? By no means. 
Such are now " weeping between the porch and the 
altar, crying, Spare thy people, O Lord, and give 
not thy heritage to reproach." Or, if they come 
forth, it is only to pour oil on the troubled waters. 
But the men who, at such seasons, walk boldest amid 
the storm, and seem most at home there, are the 
very men who are never seen or heard of when any 



FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 291 

good is to be done. Out of their place, and out of 
sight, whenever "the sacramental host" is to invade 
the powers of darkness, they are always on hand 
w 7 heu that host makes war on itself. Deserters 
when Christians fight the Devil, they are heroes 
when Christians fight each other. 

And the spirit which they show in their connec- 
tion with the church, they carry out into all the 
relations and intercourse of life. You will find 
them morose, petulant, easy to take offence, vin- 
dictive, censorious, and far more ready to believe 
evil than good of their brethren. In short, their 
whole character bears a worldly stamp. The natu- 
ral man lives and triumphs in it throughout, in all 
uncharitableness, and bitterness, and envy, and 
covetousness, and solicitude for temporal things, 
and indifference to those which are eternal. What 
could more strongly mark the distance at which 
they follow Christ? 

Another characteristic of the state we are delin- 
eating, is moral cowardice. Why did Peter follow 
his Lord afar off, keeping aloof, and skulking out 
of view like a guilty thing ? Because he was afraid 
or ashamed to be seen in his Lord's company. He 
dreaded the danger, the loss, or the reproach, to 
which he might be subjected, if recognized as a 
disciple of the Saviour. And why, in our own day, 
are so many who bear Christ's name so reluctant to 



292 BIBLE PICTURES. 

avow and maintain Christ's cause ? For the same? 
reason — they want courage to be decided. They 
shrink from the cost of following Him fully. They 
know that entire consecration to Him would involve 
the surrender of much that they are unwilling to 
renounce, and the doing of much that they are 
unwilling to perform. They are aware that they 
must mortify their most cherished passions, and 
give up their dearest carnal hopes ; that they must 
relinquish the pleasures and gayeties of the world, 
and part with its emoluments and ambitions ; that 
they must dedicate to the Saviour every faculty and 
affection of their nature, and hold all they possess 
or can acquire as subject to His disposal, and sacred 
to His glory ; that they must incur for His sake 
opposition, hatred, scorn ; and taking up His cross, 
and bearing it into whatever path of duty or of 
trial His example may lead them, pass their whole 
life in self-denial, in prayer, in watchfulness, in 
holy labor — looking for their reward, not on earth, 
but in heaven. Such sacrifices they cannot bring 
themselves to endure. The burden seems too 
heavy, the race too difficult, the prize too remote. 
And thus, trembling in view of the conflict which 
they are called to wage, they linger at the outposts, 
while they ought to be in the front of the battle, 
carrying the banner of salvation into the thickest 



FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 203 

ranks of the enemy, and storming the very citadel 
of his power. 

The individuals we are portraying evince a great 
want of resemblance to Christ in their habits and 
conduct. How unlike was Peter to His Master, 
during the mournful scenes to which the text intro- 
duces us ! Christ, seized and bound as a criminal, 
is borne away by armed and brutal men. Peter 
follows Him afar off, at his ease and unmolested. 
Both enter the palace of the high priest. "Where is 
Christ? In the judgment chamber, cold, alone, 
friendless, before the implacable foes that thirst for 
His blood. Where is Peter? In the servants' hall, 
warming himself by the fire. What is Christ doing ? 
Submitting patiently to the bitter malice of His per- 
secutors ; meekly replying to their ensnaring ques- 
tions ; receiving, without a murmur, the mocking 
scoff and the cruel buffet; and, though having all 
power in His hands, refusing to defend Plimself, or 
to check, even by a word, the steps which are con- 
ducting Him to that ignominious death, by which a 
world is to be redeemed. At this same dread hour, 
what is Peter doing? Denying his Master, and 
then cursing and swearing to back it up. Oh, how 
unlike was Peter to his Lord ! 

But not greater was his unlikeness to Christ at 
that one moment of weakness, than that which large 
numbers among ourselves habitually display. Look 

25* 



294 BIBLE PICTURES. 

at that professed disciple of a crucified Jesus. 
Where is he? At the card table, in the dancing 
party, in the resort of fashion and folly, forgetting 
his religion, and dishonoring his God. Where is 
he? On change, taking advantage of the straits 
of others, shaving notes, and getting fat by usury. 
Where is he? In his shop, cheating his customers, 
and chuckling at his success. Where is he? In 
his counting room, reckoning up his gains. The 
ledger gives a most gratifying result. There is a 
large surplus which he knows not how to use ; and 
he is studying in what way he can invest it with the 
greatest safety and profit. Hark ! A knock at his 
door startles him. He eyes suspiciously the visitor 
who enters, thinking that he does not look like one 
out of whom rich bargains can be made. It is 
Christ, in the person of one of His servants, who 
claims from him a small portion of his accumula- 
tions, for the promotion of His cause, or the relief 
of His suffering poor. Instantly the ledger reverses 
its tables. His losses have been very heavy ; his 
profits nothing ; aud he really finds it difficult to 
support his family, and carry on his business. It is 
the Lord's Day, — and where is he? In his parlor, 
reading. What? — the Bible, that tells him of 
Christ and salvation? No, the newspaper that tells 
him the rate of stocks, the price of merchandise, 
and the ever-shifting phases of politics. It is the 



FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 295 

hour of worship, — and where is he? In the house 
of God — asleep. In the house of God? No, he 
is seldom there. He has not religion enough even 
to do his sleeping in the sanctuary — but spends 
the hours of hallowed time — hours to him vapid 
and tedious — in dozing at home, or strolling 
abroad. 

Brethren ! have you never seen the original of 
this picture ? I do not ask whether you can trace 
its features in any of your own number ; for, delin- 
quent as you may be, I would fain hope that there 
are none among you to whom it could be fully 
applied. But have you not found, in the great 
body of professed believers, some, aye many, to 
whom it corresponds in all its intensity of coloring ? 
And can there be in such characters any resem- 
blance to Christ crucified? There may be, in their 
inward life, far down among the principles and feel- 
ings which their worldliness has overlaid, some faint 
traces of His image ; but the lines are so faint and 
so obscure, that only the eye of Omniscience can 
discover them. 

One more characteristic of the class we are de- 
scribing, is a low sense of Christian obligation. 
We cannot believe that Peter, while acting in the 
manner we have noticed, had any just impression of 
what was due from him to his Master. And as 
little can we believe that they who now imitate his 



296 BIBLE PICTURES. 

conduct, are influenced by any adequate feeling of 
their indebtedness to the Saviour by whose name 
they are called. If they duly considered who Christ 
is, and what He has done, could they prove so un- 
faithful to Him? Did they suitably realize that it is 
He who by His own blood hath delivered them 
from the curse of the law, and the condemnation of 
hell ; that it is He who awakened them from the 
fatal slumber of their unregeueracy, and quickened 
them by His Spirit ; that His grace now sustains 
and guides them ; that His intercession procures for 
them all their mercies ; that from Him comes every 
blessing that gilds the gloom of earth, and every 
hope that points to the blessedness of heaven — Oh, 
did they truly feel all this, could they manifest such 
indifference to His claims, and so little gratitude for 
His benefits? No, no — it is impossible. Pene- 
trated, melted by the truth, "Ye are bought with a 
price," they would recognize the further truth, 
" Ye are not your own ; " and every bond of duty, 
and every drawing of love, would constrain them to 
live, not to themselves, but unto Him who died for 
them, and rose again. Christ, in His character and 
in His offices, would become to them the great Cen- 
tre of attraction, the chief Object of all their affec- 
tions and purposes and desires ; and ravished by 
His beauty, they would press after Him, with eager 
longings to be conformed to His likeness. 



FOLLOWIXG CHRIST AFAR OFF. 297 

Having thus noticed the characteristics of the 
state described, let us now proceed to consider the 
evils which result from it. 

It is attended by a loss of happiness. How 
miserable must Peter have been while following the 
Lord afar off ! His gracious and loving Master has 
been taken from him by violent hands, and he, His 
sworn disciple, has not had the fidelity nor the cour- 
age to stand by Him, or to suffer with Him. Observe 
him as he pursues his lonely way along the path by 
which Jesus has been borne. The darkness of mid- 
night is around him ; but there is a deeper midnight 
in his soul. Every breeze that whispers among the 
olives of Gethsemane seems to echo the reproaches 
of his own heart. Every star that glimmers above 
that scene of agony seems conscious of his shame, 
and to look down rebukingly upon him. As he 
leaves the garden, and enters the city, the very 
sounds of his footsteps, as he walks the deserted 
streets, seem converted into voices of accusation. 
And when he reaches the palace, and mingles with 
the groups in attendance there, every eye seems to 
pierce through him, and to read the story of his 
perfidy. Oh, what a wretched man was Peter at 
that hour ! 

And thus is it with all who walk in his steps. 
Sensible of the claims which their religious profes- 
sion has on them ; knowing that they ought to live 



298 BIBLE PICTURES. 

near to Christ, in spiritual communion, and holy 
obedience : and vet unwilling to incur the self- 
denials which such a course demands — they are 
the constant subjects of inward strife and dissatis- 
faction. Their judgment and conscience are per- 
petually at war with their worldly inclinations — 
the shadows of time, and the realities of eternity — 
the solicitations of sense, and the incentives of the 
Gospel — contend for the mastery over them ; and, 
in the struggle, their hearts are torn and divided, 
tossed about by opposite currents, and acted upon 
by antagonistic influences. They are like a ship 
where two tides meet, or contrary winds blow 
against each other. Now a celestial breeze fills 
their sails, and they seem to be speeding onward 
to the haven of peace. Anon, a dark gale from 
the Pit strikes them, and they are taken all aback, 
or driven dead on the lee shore of doubt and unbe- 
lief. In such a state, the}* can derive no real enjoy- 
ment from anything. They have too much religion 
to be happy in the world, and too much of the world 
to be happy in religion. The waters of earth, mixed 
with the waters of heaven, furnish the most unsatis- 
fying draught that mortal lips ever tasted. Oh, 
how many sorrows do they entail on themselves ! 
How much of happiness do they lose ! They might 
be filled with the fulness of God. The}' might 
possess the solid peace and hope, the abounding 



FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 299 

comforts and consolations, which Christ imparts to 
those who follow Him fully. But, remaining at a 
woeful distance from Him, they see only enough of 
the light of His glory to render visible the darkness 
of their own souls. 

The state we have described involves a great loss 
of usefulness. How much good Peter might have 
done by keeping near to his Lord, we cannot tell ; 
but certain it is that he did no good by following 
Him afar off. On the contrary, he destroyed his 
own peace, wounded the heart of Christ, discour- 
aged His friends, and gave His enemies occasion to 
exult and triumph. 

In like manner, they who are now guilty of simi- 
lar unfaithfulness, accomplish little for the glory of 
God, and the welfare of their fellow-men. Instead 
of seeking the advancement of Christ's kingdom, 
and feeling that for this they were created and re- 
deemed, they devote their time and talents to the 
interests of this fugitive world. The service of 
God is with them an incidental matter, to which the 
fragments of their leisure, and an occasional pittance 
of their property, may be given ; while the main 
business of their lives is to accumulate wealth, to 
acquire reputation, or to secure their own ease and 
indulgence. Alas, how has the Church of Christ 
been enfeebled and paralyzed, her energies wasted, 
her resources crippled, her victories retarded, by 



300 BIBLE PICTURES. 

the prevalence of such a disposition among her 
children! Had all who, in former times, bore the 
Redeemer's name, been true to His cause, what a 
different aspect would oar world now exhibit ! 
And were all who profess the Gospel at the present 
day, to come up fully to their obligations, what a 
new impulse would be given to the triumphs of the 
Cross ! How powerful would be the influence of 
religion in Christian lands, and how rapidly would 
the Saviour's conquests extend through the be- 
nighted regions of Paganism ! All this, so tar as it 
is connected with human instrumentalities, is inter- 
rupted and delayed by the fact that so many follow 
the Lord afar off. 

The state referred to is one of great exposure. 
It was emphatically bo to Peter. Had he remained 
by the side of his Lord, there is no reason to sup- 
pose he would have fallen into the dreadful sin of 
denying Ilim. But by giving way to doubt, to in- 
decision, and to a dread of personal sacrifices, he 
was in ju-t the state of mind to yield to the tempta- 
tion when it was presented. 

Our path through this world is encompassed by 
many dangers. Hie Adversary of our souls "goeth 
about as a roaring lion, Beeking whom he may de- 
vour." The seductions of pleasure, of riches, and 
of honor, are constantly around us, ready, at cadi 
unguarded moment, to entice us into their toil-. 



FOLLOinXG CHRIST AFAR OFF. 801 

And we carry in oar own hearts a traitor, that is 
always on the watch to betray ns. In such circum- 
stances, our only safety lies in a close adherence to 
the Captain of our Salvation who goes before us, 
and who has promised to defend His obedient fol- 
lowers from every snare and foe. To those who 
tread in His footsteps, imitate His example, and 
make His precepts the rule of them lives. He im- 
parts grace for every emergency, succors them in 
the onset of evil, strengthens them to resist the illu- 
sions of sense, and spreads over them the wing of 
His omnipotent protection amid all the perils by 
which their course is beset. Having their loins 
girded about with truth, and their feet shod with 
the preparation of the Gospel of peace : wearing the 
breast-plate of righteousness, the shield of faith. 
aud the helmet of salvation ; and wielding the 
sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God — 
they pass securely through all the thick and hostile 
legions that oppose their progress. But no such guar- 
dianship is extended to the careless and negligent 
soldier of the Cross. He may loiter on his march, 
or turn aside to gather the flowers that bloom at his 
feet, or wander into the green fields which smile 
invitingly around him. But he will find every inch 
of the ground filled with lurking enemies, and may 
expect, at each step, to fall into an ambush. The 
only safe place for him is near the banner of his 

2»3 



302 BIBLE PICTURES. 

lung. If he leave the ranks, or linger in the rear, 
he is almost sure to be cut off, and taken captive. 
Satan is always on the lookout for stragglers. Oh, 
could we trace the inward history of those children 
of God who, by their lapses into grievous sin, have 
dishonored His name, and pierced their own souls 
with many sorrows, we should find that the Tempter 
made his successful assault at some moment of indo- 
lence or heedlessness, when faith had grown weary, 
and vigilance was lulled to sleep, and duty was for- 
gotten, and prayer neglected, and the feet, ceasing 
to follow Christ, were roaming in the by-ways 
of earth. Who would dwell in such enchanted 
ground ? 

The state we have been considering is sure to be 
followed by remorse and sorrow. Who can tell the 
anguish of Peter's feelings, when, after his Lord 
looked upon him, he went out, and wept bitterly? 
Oh, what a tide of harrowing thoughts must have 
rushed upon his mind, as he stole away into some 
lonely retreat, there to give vent to his grief! 
How did the recollection of his Saviour's love and 
tenderness and forbearance, and of his own base 
conduct towards Him, thrill his bosom with intens- 
est aironv ! How must the glance of that Divine 
eye, about to be quenched in death, have burned 
like fire into his heart ! The impression of that hour 
was never effaced. The memory of that upbraiding, 



FOLLOWING CHRIST AFAR OFF. 303 

sorrowful, yet pitying look, never left his soul. 
And although he truly repented, and knew that his 
Lord had forgiven him, he never forgave himself. 
Through all his subsequent labors and successes as 
an Apostle, down to his dying day, he carried with 
him the remembrance of his shameful delinquency. 
And we are informed by Eusebius, that when, in 
the persecution under Nero, he was sentenced to 
crucifixion, he requested of the officers that he 
might not be crucified in the ordinary way, but 
with his head downward ; affirming that he was not 
worthy to suffer in the same posture in which his 
Lord had suffered, because he once denied Him. 
Thus on the eve of matryrdom, with its glittering 
crown full in view, he could not cease to reproach 
himself for his ingratitude to his Saviour. 

Similar sorrows await all lukewarm and back- 
ward professors. If they are indeed the people of 
Christ, He will not let them always live careless 
and at ease. He will one day look on them with 
the searching eyes of His word and Spirit, or with 
the piercing glance of His judgments, and awaken 
them to a sense of their forgotten obligations. And 
oh ! what bitter pangs will attend their awaking ! 
"What regrets will they feel for their past remiss- 
ness ! How will the recollections of privileges mis- 
improved, time wasted, opportunities of usefulness 
lost, souls neglected, a Saviour dishonored, throng 



304 BIBLE PICTURES. 

like spectres around theni ! And though, by apply- 
ing afresh to the blood of Atonement, they may find 
a healing balm for their wounds, they will yet bear 
the scars of them to their very graves. Oh, who 
would thus surround his dying bed with the memo- 
ries of a misspent life? — memories which, even 
amid the consciousness of pardon and restoration, 
will dim the beams of faith and hope, and hang 
heavily on the wings of the ascending spirit ! 

Brethren ! Are any of us folloAving the Lord 
afar off ? Let us renounce at once a conduct so 
ungrateful and criminal. Let us strive constant^ 
for a closer walk with Him, a more full conformity 
to His example, and a more zealous performance of 
His blessed will. Let us often contemplate Him in 
His life, in His character, and in His works. We 
shall find Him worthy of our warmest- love, and of 
our most active consecration. If we are, indeed, 
His disciples, He has redeemed us by His blood, 
and kindled within us the light of His grace, how- 
ever sadly that light may be now obscured by 
worldliness and sin. Oh, then, let us seek His face 
anew, and follow^ Him unreservedly, devoting to 
Him our all for time and eternity. So shall we 
best promote His glory, our own happiness, and 
the spiritual good of our fellow-men. 

But if it be thus an evil and bitter thing to follow 
the Lord afar off, how much more must it be so not 



FOLLOWIXG CHRIST AFAR OFF. 305 

to follow Him at all ! The truly converted, how- 
ever slow may be their progress, and unsteady their 
steps, are yet in the path to the heavenly Zion, and 
will ultimately reach it. The self-deceived, the un- 
believing, the impenitent, are walking in the broad 
road that leadeth to destruction. Some of them 
may fondly dream that they are travelling towards 
the Celestial City ; but their whole spirit and prac- 
tice give mournful evidence that their faces are 
turned the other way ; while the avowedly irre- 
ligious tread, without disguise, the open thorough- 
fare of rebellion against God. My dear friends, let 
me entreat you to forsake the fatal courses of the 
world, and turn to the Lord. Come to Christ by 
faith and repentance. Cleave to Him with full pur- 
pose of heart. Confide all your interests to His 
hands, and dedicate all your energies to His service. 
So shall He be to you a Saviour nigh at hand 
through the changing scenes of time, and your all- 
sufficient Portion in eternity. 

26* 



CHAPTER XV. 

CHRIST'S LOVE FOR HIS OWN. 

" Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved 
THEM UNTO THE END." — John xiii. 1. 

N the affection of Christ for His disciples, there 
was a generosity, a self-oblivion, which chal- 
lenges the admiration of every thoughtful mind. 
The hour of His final anguish was now close 
at hand ; that hour in which He was to be 
assailed by the Powers of Darkness ; that hour in 
which the supporting presence of His Father was to 
be withdrawn from Him ; that hour in which, de- 
serted by His followers, He was to stand like a 
lone rock amid the billows of an ocean of sorrow. 
And yet, even at such a moment, when His every 
thought might well have been engrossed by the suf- 
ferings that awaited Him, we find that He forgot 
Himself in His deep regard for His people ; and 
that His very consciousness of the approach of these 
sufferings led Him to concentrate His anxieties still 
more intensely on the cherished ones from whom 
He was so soon to be separated. "Having loved 
His own which were in the world, He loved them 
unto the end." 

306 



Christ's love foe his own. 307 

With what a moral sublimity does this statement 
invest the closing scene of the Redeemer's life ! 
Behold Hini. on the ere of that fearful tragedy 
which creation shuddered to witness ! From the 
omniscience, which pertained to Him as Divine. He 
was aware of the full violence of the storm that was 
about to beat upon Him. He knew every bitter 
ingredient in the cup of trembling which He was to 
drink. He saw before Him the mournful shades 
of Gethsemane. the bloody sweat, the mysterious 
agony, the midnight arrest, the chain, the scourge, 
the crown of thorns, the cross, and its death of 
ignominy. All these were vividly present to His 
view. But. instead of filling Him with dismay at 
the pains which He himself was to endure, they 
only served to increase His solicitude for those who 
had attached themselves to His cause, and whom 
He was to leave behind Him in a world of hostility 
and danger. As the shipwrecked mother, when 
the vessel is sinking, and the waves rush through 
the riven planks, presses her babes more fondly to 
her bosom, and. in her concern for their safety. 
heeds not the roar of the tempest — so the Saviour. 
as the terrors of the crucifixion thickened around 
Him. gathered His disciples more closely to His 
heart, and hxed on them a tenderness deepening to 
the last : — a tenderness that death itself could not 
extinguish: but which, ascending with Him to the 



308 BIBLE PICTURES. 

Throne of Intercession, now glows as fervently as 
in the days of His flesh, towards all who believe in 
His Name. 

In endeavoring to set before you this love of 
Christ, as it is presented in the text, I propose to 
consider the character and condition of those who 
are the objects of it ; and the qualities by which it 
is distinguished. 

And may our Heavenly Father so unveil to our 
view the treasures of Grace in His Son, that our 
hearts shall be filled with devout and adoring grati- 
tude. May He be present to refresh us with the 
declarations of His mercy. May He enable me so 
to speak, and you so to hear, that we shall derive 
from His word new strength and confidence to pur- 
sue, through labors, and conflicts, and perils, the 
ever-brightening path which conducts to that City 
of Habitation, whose Builder and Maker is God. 

Let us consider the character and condition of 
those who are the objects of the Saviour's love. 
They are described, in the passage before us, by 
the brief, but significant expression, "Ills own." 
In what manner, then, is this language to be under- 
stood? To whom may it be correctly applied? 
There is unquestionably a sense in which it may be 
said that all men are the property of Christ. He is 
the Author of their existence. "All things were 
created by Him, and for Him." He is their Pre- 



Christ's love for his own. 309 

server, upholding them continually by the word of 
His power. His mediation procures for them, 
while in this state of probation, unnumbered bless- 
ings which otherwise they could never have re- 
ceived. And by His death on the cross, as a 
propitiation for sin, He has opened a way for their 
return to holiness and heaven. On all these ac- 
counts, He claims, and justly claims, the dominion 
of this entire world of immortals. And as He is 
the rightful Sovereign of the whole human family, 
so He feels for all, even for the rebellious, a deep 
and unslumbering love. His mercies are over all 
His works ; and there is not a sinner upon earth, 
however debased and guilty, on whom He does not 
look with yearning compassion. 

But while all men may thus be considered as 
belonging to Christ, and participating in His benev- 
olent regards, it is not, I apprehend, in this wide 
extent that the language of the text is employed. 
From the connection in which it occurs, as well as 
from numerous parallel expressions of the Sacred 
Writers, it manifestly refers, not to those who are 
dear to Christ simply as the recipients of His crea- 
ting and sustaining goodness, or as the subjects of 
His mediatorial government ; but to those who, by 
the sanctifying power of His grace, have been 
brought into that new, spiritual relation to Him, 



310 BIBLE PICTURES. 

which is the peculiar privilege of His regenerate 
people. 

Such were His Apostles arid immediate followers. 
They were emphatically "His own." He chose 
them from the mass of their unbelieving country- 
men, illumined their dark minds, purified their 
hearts, and endowed them with miraculous gifts, 
for the express purpose of making them the com- 
panions of His earthly course, and the appointed 
heralds of His Gospel, when His own labors should 
be finished. They were, therefore, in an eminent 
degree, the objects of His kindness and sympathy. 
The declaration we are examining is not, however, 
to be limited to the personal attendants of our 
Lord. On the contrary, it extends to all the truly 
converted, of every clime, and in every period of 
this world's history. Our Saviour, in that mem- 
orable prayer with which He closed His ministry, 
declared to His Father, that He prayed, not for 
those only who were then His disciples, but for all 
who in future times should believe through their 
word. That prayer stretches along the line of the 
ages ; and in this our distant day, after the lapse 
of eighteen centuries, it reaches, in all the fervor 
of its tenderness, and in all the efficacy of its inter- 
cession, to us who believe in His name. And if the 
word, "His own" characterized the objects" of His 
love while He actually dwelt upon earth, that word 



cheist's love for his own. 311 

is still the distinctive title of all who cordially 
embrace His salvation. 

To the really pious, therefore, of every age and 
country, the appellation in the text belongs. They 
are, in a special sense, the Redeemer's "own." 
They constitute the blood-bought heritage given 
Him by His Father, as the reward of His obedience 
and sufferings. In their deliverance from guilt, 
and their elevation to eternal felicity, He sees the 
travail of His soul, and is satisfied. For the joy 
set before Him in achieving their redemption, He 
gladly endured the cross, and despised the shame. 
And to accomplish His designs of mercy in their 
behalf, He has sent His Holy Spirit to awaken them 
from the slumber of sin, to renew their polluted 
natures, to form His image within them, and, by 
the production of repentance and faith, to bring 
them into a vital union with Himself. Thus His 
seal has been impressed upon them, His love shed 
abroad.in their hearts. Drawn by the sweet attrac- 
tions of His grace, they turn their hearts to Him, 
as the flower turns its rejoicing petals to the morn- 
ing sun. They feel that they are not their own. 
They know that their Saviour has purchased them 
with the sacrifice of His most precious life ; and, 
melted by His goodness, they bow, with a pleased 
submission, to His will, and dedicate their all to 
His service. Henceforth they live, not to them- 



312 BIBLE PICTURES. 

selves, but to Christ. His law becomes the rule of 
their coucluct, His glory their aim, His approbation 
their chief joy. All that they are, all that they 
do, manifests their consecration to Him. In their 
endeavors to promote His cause ; in their desires to 
be conformed to His likeness ; in their earnest long- 
ings after communion with Him ; in the heavenward 
reachings of their renovated spirits — they exhibit 
the legible signature of Him who " hath set apart 
the godly for Himself." 

Such is the character of those who sustain to 
Christ the peculiar relation adverted to in the text. 
And, oh, how intimate, how tender is that rela- 
tion ! How full of meaning is the term by which 
it is described! "His own!" What endearing 
associations cluster around that word ! T\ r e are 
accustomed to connect with it all that is pleasing in 
the ideas of possession and enjoyment ; and what- 
ever we can call ff our own" acquires, on that 
account, an additional value in our esteem. Thus 
the man returned from long travel gazes with eager 
delight on his home, and sees in its woods, and 
streams, and green hill-sides, a loveliness far dearer 
to his heart, than all the scenes of beauty and 
grandeur which he visited in his wanderings. Sim- 
ilar are the feelings with which the Redeemer con- 
templates His people. They are to Him bright, 
sunny spots, reclaimed from the waste of our fallen 



Christ's love for his owjf. 313 

humanity, and lit up by the beams of His grace. 
On them His eye complacently rests. He views, 
with gratified interest, the fruits of His own Spirit 
within them. Sweet to Him is the sigh of their 
penitence, the voice of their prayer, the incense of 
their praise ; sweet their temper of lowliness, and 
patience, and charity ; sweet their struggles against 
sin, and their efforts after higher holiness. With 
sleepless vigilance He watches every step of their 
progress; spreads over them the broad shield of. 
His power to protect them from danger; succors 
them in temptation ; guides them in difficulty ; 
comforts them in affliction ; and through all their 
pilgrimage looks down upon them, waiting with fond 
desire for the hour when, having completed their 
salvation, He shall receive them to His own blest 
abode, and place them, as imperishable jewels, in 
the diadem of His glory. 

But the text alludes also to the condition of those 
who are the objects of the Saviour's love. They 
are "in the world." This might be deemed a 
strange place in which to look for the property of 
Christ; for here the Prince of Evil maintains his 
usurped dominion, and holds the multitudes of earth 
as his willing vassals. Yet amid this scene of wide- 
spread rebellion — in this wilderness of sin, and 
gloom, and deaths — the people of Christ are to be 
found ; and the circumstances of trial and peril in 
27 



314 BIBLE PICTURES. 

which they are thus placed constitute the precise 
reason which calls forth His anxiety on their ac- 
count. He prayed for them, not that they might 
be taken out of the world, but that they might be 
kept from the evil. Their state is, at present, one 
connected with time, and with a sphere in which 
holiness is despised, and iniquity exalted ; in which 
the good walk in sackcloth, and the wicked in 
lordly purple. Nevertheless, he knows their path, 
for He has travelled it before them ; and where 
they see the print of His feet, they are to set their 
feet also. They are now, like their Master in the 
days of His humiliation, encircled by foes, sur- 
rounded by sinners, acquainted with calamity and 
peril. Their journey lies through a desert land. 
Many are the nigged ways along which they have 
to pass ; many are the obstacles which they have to 
surmount ; many are the tears which they have to 
shed ; many are the conflicts which they have to en- 
counter. But though their condition here is one of 
trial and sorrow, they are not always to remain in 
it. The place that now painfully knows them, will 
soon know them no more. They will pass onward, 
and pass upward. Their lot is to be a counterpart 
of the lot of their Redeemer. 

" Made like Him, like Him they rise, 
Theirs the cross, the grave, the skies. n 



CHRIST 7 S LOVE FOR HIS OWN. 315 

As He has completed His earthly sojourn, and as- 
cended to His Father, so they also are to terminate 
their wanderings. The path along which they are 
moving by God's direction, leads to a city of habi- 
tation. It has a definite aim — a definite limit. 
They are not to be pilgrims forever. Their Master 
knows the duration of their wayfaring. Its course 
is marked out by His hand ; and when it is finished, 
they will pass beyond the boundaries of sin and suf- 
fering to that "House of many mansions," whither 
the Saviour has already gone to prepare a place for 
them, that where He is, there they may be also. 
His happiness is not a solitary happiness. He will 
not be satisfied with the results of His mediation, 
nor feel that His redeeming work is consummated, 
till He shall see the whole multitude given Him by 
His Father, with thrilling hearts of gratitude and 
joy, ascribing, in His own presence, "salvation 
unto Him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the 
Lamb forever." 

Having shown the character and condition of 
those who are the objects of the Saviour's love, I 
proceed to consider the qualities by which that love 
is distinguished. 

It is disinterested. In the passage before us the 
subject of His love is mentioned in connection with 
His own violent departure from the world. The 
very thoughts which occupied His mind at this mo- 



316 BIBLE PICTURES. 

merit were of that agonized aud parching death 
which He was to endure on the Cross. He was to 
be an atonement, a sin-offering ; and in order to 
realize this design, He was to experience sufferings, 
whose intense and aggravated nature no language 
can describe, or imagination conceive. Yet such 
was His affection for "His own," that, to secure 
their happiness, He cheerfully bowed Himself to the 
baptism of anguish. Oh, there is a magnanimity in 
the love of Christ that has rilled heaven with aston- 
ishment ! " God so loved the world, that He gave 
His Only Begotten Son " to die for it ; and that 
Only Begotten Son so loved His people, that He 
joyfully consented to this death. 

Well does it become us to contemplate with 
greater frequency and attention this attribute of 
our Redeemer's love. We had no claim to his 
favor. In ourselves there was not only nothing 
to attract, but everything to repel, His kindness. 
It was while we were yet sinners, guilty, perverse, 
self-destroyed, that He made for us the Avondrous 
manifestation of love displayed in our redemp- 
tion. It was, therefore, a love which had its ex- 
clusive source in His own undeserved, spontaneous 
goodness. There is in our world but one type of 
this love; and even that is in comparison feeble 
and imperfect. It is the love which a mother feels 
for the infant she has brought forth. In that help- 



Christ's love for his own. 317 

less object of her regard there is nothing of dignity, 
nothing of beauty, nothing of intellect, nothing of 
virtue, nothing of any quality that is fitted to excite 
intense emotion. And yet with what melting ten- 
derness does her heart yearn towards it. The foun- 
tain of a mother's love is in her own bosom. It is 
an irrepressible instinct. Free and self-moving as 
a living spring, it gushes up from the depths of her 
nature, without a thought of the worthiness of the 
being on whom it is bestowed. Now, it is this very 
affection which inspiration has selected to illustrate 
the love of Christ to His people. He passed by, 
and beheld them, " like an infant cast out into the 
open field," lying in their guilt, and weltering in 
their blood. He saw in them nothing on which His 
eye could rest with complacency. They were vile, 
they were corrupt, they were loathsome^ But they 
were miserable. They needed His pity. His 
bowels moved over them; and, in the exercise of 
His own sovereign, unmerited grace, He said unto 
them, "Live." He assumed their nature. He bore 
their sins in His own body on the tree. And, hav- 
ing risen triumphant from the grave, He now sends 
down His Spirit to work their renovation, and pre- 
pare them for the bliss of His presence. Oh, base 
must be the heart, and sordid the mind, that can 
think of a love like this, and not swell with mingled 
emotions of wonder and gratitude ! 
27* 



318 BIBLE PICTURES. 

The love of Christ to His people is a holy love. 
Why is the declaration of the Saviour's love con- 
nected in the text with an allusion to His death ? 
Might not one reason he to show the holiness of 
that love ? He could not manifest His compassion 
for our fallen race in any manner that should com- 
promise the perfections of God, or lead any subject 
of His government to question the purity of its ad- 
ministration. No ; the rights of Infinite Sovereignty 
must be respected ; the claims of moral obligation 
must be sustained ; the integrity of the Divine Law 
must be preserved. To secure these ends in con- 
junction with the honorable exercise of clemency, 
it was necessary that He should make, in the view 
of the universe, such an expiation for sin, that God 
could be just, and yet justify the believing trans- 
gressor. And this He has done. By His atoning 
Sacrifice, He has opened a channel by which the 
stream of mercy may flow to the penitent, without 
impinging against any of the abutments of Justice, 
or shaking a single pillar of Jehovah's throne. 
There is, therefore, a holiness in the love of Christ. 
It is not an undue partiality, an overweening fond- 
ness, that sacrifices principle, and is reckless of 
consequences. It is a righteous love. It is a love 
worthy of His Divinity. It is a love that bears 
upon it the very stamp and impress of the God- 
head. It is a love which, while it pardons and 



c heist's love for his own. 319 

saves the repenting sinner, sacredly guards all 
the attributes of Deity, and spreads a salutary awe 
through every rank of accountable beings. 

The love of Christ to His people is a wise love. 
Of this we have a striking illustration in the chapter 
from which the text is taken. We read that when 
the Supper was ended, our Lord took a towel, and 
girded Himself, and began to wash the disciples' 
feet. I refer to this as conveying to my mind a sig- 
nal exemplification of the wisdom of Christ's love. 
He was now to be removed from these objects of 
His solicitude, and could no longer impart to them 
His advice and counsel. He was, therefore, desir- 
ous of improving this occasion to iustruct them in a 
particular point which they most needed to know, 
and which was specially important to their wel- 
fare. That point was humility. There is no les- 
son, even to the Christian, more difficult than this. 
To be conscious of his own insignificance — to cher- 
ish a subdued and docile temper — to feel that no 
duty is beneath him — to realize his weakness, and 
to hang with a complete dependence on the grace 
and strength of God — is a frame of mind most es- 
sential to his spiritual progress, but one which he is 
most reluctant and slow to acquire. Hence, our 
Lord appears to have selected this precise mo- 
ment — a moment around which memory would 
afterwards linger with peculiar interest — in order 



320 BIBLE PICTURES. 

to communicate His instructions respecting humility 
in a manner the most impressive, and the most 
likely to be recalled. He took the servant's place, 
and began to wash the disciples' feet. And He 
intended by this action, not only to teach them 
emblematically the great truth that no man is 
cleansed from sin until he is washed in the blood of 
Christ ; but also to show them by His own example, 
that they should be meek in their pretensions ; 
unassuming in their intercourse with each other ; 
condescending to the lowest offices of kindness and 
charity ; and regarding it as their highest honor to 
be ministers of consolation to the unhappy. His 
love was, then, a wise love. A wise instructor 
embraces favorable seasons to inculcate the lessons 
he wishes most deeply to impress. And thus our 
Divine Teacher evinced His wisdom by choosing 
the fittest opportunity to record His deep sense of 
the value of that lowliness of spirit, which is the 
native element of piety, and in which only it can 
flourish, and produce its fairest and most precious 
fruits. 

The wisdom of the Saviour's love may also fur- 
nish a key to much that is mysterious in His dis- 
pensations towards His people, during their earthly 
pilgrimage. Why is the state of Christians here 
one of trial and conflict? It is because the love of 
their Master is a wise love. He is too wise and too 



Christ's love for nis own. 3^1 

good to allow them any indulgence which would be 
inconsistent with their real welfare. In this world 
partial fondness defeats its own end, and is often 
the occasion of ruin to those on whom it is lavished. 
But in the love of Christ there is no such weakness. 
While it designs the true happiness of its objects, it 
labors to promote it by a recourse to that moral 
treatment which their present circumstances de- 
mand. Hence the fact that the pious are so often 
afflicted, crossed by so many disappointments, 
bowed down by so many sorrows, heart-struck by 
so many bereavements, exposed to so many foes, 
encompassed by so many perils, is in itself a proof 
that the love which the great Shepherd feels for 
them is as wise as it is tender. He subjects them 
to such a discipline, because He sees it to be neces- 
sary to the development of their religious character. 
They are now in a state of pupilage, training up for 
the occupations and the beatitudes of heaven. For 
that blessed world they are as yet but partially 
fitted. Their knowledge is inadequate ; their expe- 
rience is immature ; their principles are defective ; 
their affections are low and sensual. They need 
the constant application of the Master's hand to 
improve what is begun, to ripen what is crude, to 
soften what is rough, to strengthen what is feeble, 
and to give to their piety the highest degree of 
completeness of which in this imperfect scene the 



322 BIBLE PICTURES. 

renewed nature is capable. And in the carrying on 
of this sanctifying process, affliction is His chief 
instrumentality. There are some graces, indeed, 
which nothing else can bring out. Patience, sub- 
mission, fortitude, detachment from the world, and 
unwavering trust in God, are not flowers of the sun. 
They do not grow in the sheltered garden. They 
are not fanned by balmy breezes. They are 
planted on the beetling cliff. They are watered 
by the spray of the ocean. They bloom amid tem- 
pests and hurricanes. There are lessons which 
cannot be taught in the smiling valley. They must 
be learned in the frowning desert, where the sky is 
hung with gloom, and the earth is clothed in mourn- 
ing. And it is for the sake of these lessons that 
the All-wise Disposer of our lot spreads the shadows 
of adversity around those whom He loves. Viewed 
in this light, every aspect of severity vanishes from 
His providence. Its dark lines become radiant with 
mercy ; and the calamities which so frequently 
befall the righteous appear, what they really are, 
the expressions of unerring kindness and benignity. 
They are designed to wean them from the vanities 
of time ; to fix their thoughts on heaven ; to teach 
them penitence, resignation, self-distrust, and confi- 
dence in their almighty Guide ; and to lead them, 
by all the troubles of life's wilderness, to value and 



Christ's love fob his own. 323 

enjoy that Canaan of eternal rest, where every tear 
will be wiped away. 

Christian ! think you that generous Saviour 
who gave Himself as your ransom, would withhold 
from you any earthly boon, if He saw it to be con- 
sistent with your spiritual interests ? No ; it would 
cost Him far less to give you a world than to do 
what He has done for you. It is only because 
unbroken sunshine would make you love the present 
scene too well, that He brings His clouds over you. 
But while He is thus constrained now to correct 
His people, with what intense satisfaction does He 
look forward to the period when His chastisements 
will no longer be necessary ; when He can pour a 
full tide of bliss through their hearts, and they shall 
be safe under the pressure of that glorious prosper- 
ity ! The hour is coming when He can give full 
scope to His bounty, without any fear of injuring 
the piety of His servants. It is reserved for that 
brighter world, where no temptation can enter, no 
intirmity betray, to furnish a perfect manifestation 
of the riches of His goodness. There happiness 
can be enjoyed without danger. And there will the 
munificent Eedeemer be seen in the midst of His 
sanctified ones, diffusing around them a flood of 
blessings, which they shall contemplate and possess 
forever with increasing humility and gratitude. 

The love of Christ to His people is an unchang- 



324 BIBLE PICTURES. 

ing love. In this world we are familiar with insta- 
bility. There is here nothing firm, nothing perma- 
nent, nothing secure. Everything around us is 
evanescent and mutable as the hues of evening. 
Even the friendships of earth are fragile structures, 
which the winds of adversity may throw down. 
But in the love of Christ there is a constancy on 
which the weary heart may repose without fear of 
change. Having loved His own which were in 
the world, He loved them unto the end." There 
was much in these objects of His affection to grieve 
and alienate Him; much perverseness, much irreso- 
lution, much unbelief, much inconsistency. But as 
His love arose, not from any excellence in them, 
but from His own free grace ; as He had taken the 
full gauge, not only of human woe, but of human 
depravity and waywardness, He was prepared to 
love through all these obstacles, and to love unto 
the end. How forcibly do the Scriptures portray 
the faithfulness of Christ by a reference to those 
images of strength and fixedness which Nature fur- 
nishes ! " The mountains may depart, and the hills 
be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from 
thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be 
removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy upon 
thee." 

It is the perpetuity of the Redeemer's love which 
insures the salvation of His people. Oh, could His 



Christ's love fob his own. 325 

mind waver X Could there be in Him any shadow 
of turning ! Could the least possibility of failure 
be predicated of any of His promises ! Could im- 
perfection or ingratitude in His chosen divert His 
regards from them ! — then would the ground of the 
Christian's confidence be destroyed ; then could the 
bark of his hopes find no anchorage, but must drift 
over the troubled ocean of uncertainty, and wander 
forever from the Port of Peace. But, blessed be 
God, His purpose in Christ stand eth sure. The 
Lord knoweth them that are His ; and the love 
which He bears them is, like Himself, immutable. 
It is not a summer torrent from the mountains, 
which, swollen by sudden rains, may run full and 
strong for a time, and then is dry. No ; it is the 
deep, settled current of the ever-flowing river. It 
is measureless as infinitude, fathomless as the sea, 
fixed as Heaven's throne, lasting as eternity ; and 
the fact that it is so, is the sheet-anchor of the 
universe. 

Permit me, in closing the subject, to exhort you, 
my Christian brethren, to meditate often on the 
love of the Saviour. The more you thus meditate, 
the more will your own love to Him be increased ; 
the more earnest and unremitted will be your en- 
deavors to serve Him. Oh ! it is a sense of the 
love of Christ which nerves the mind for active 
obedience! When His fulness is not seen — when 

28 



326 BIBLE PICTURES. 

the eye is turned away from His ever-present and 
all-powerful aid — it is then that the heart staggers, 
and the purpose is irresolute. But let the believer 
humbly and devoutly ponder the unsearchable riches 
of the Gospel ; let him spread out before him its 
varied promises, and expatiate, with freedom and 
joy, over the boundless field of its consolations ; let 
him explore, under the guidance of the Blessed 
Comforter, the heights, and depths, and lengths, 
and breadths of that love of Christ which passeth 
knoAvlcdgc ; let him encircle himself with it as with 
an atmosphere, and baptize his spirit into its living 
element ; — then shall his soul gather fresh courage ; 
his heart shall assume a firmer and a nobler atti- 
tude ; he shall address himself to duty with an en- 
ergy of resolve and a strength of perseverance, that 
will enable him to break from many a shackle, 
which has hitherto impeded him in the ways of 
God ; and he shall know, by happy experience, 
those holy victories over sin, and passion, and 
Avorldliness, which the power of the Redeemer can 
even here achieve for His people. Ye are not 
straitened in Him ; ye are straitened only in your 
own narrow conceptions of His grace. Endeavor, 
then, by fervent prayer for the teachings of the 
Spirit, to raise your low views of Christ lo the high 
level on which He has presented Himself lo you. 
Oh, think of Him as lie is! Think of Him in the 



Christ's love for his own. 327 

unchangeableness of His nature, in the plenitude of 
His compassions, in the exhaustless efficacy of His 
atonement, in the omnipotent prevalence of His in- 
tercession. Then shall your weeping eye turn from 
your own deficiencies to His all-perfect merits ; from 
the pursuing vengeance of the law to the sure refuge 
of His cross. Then amid the sorrows of life jour 
heart shall be glad. You will see in the severest 
privations the marks of His wisdom and kindness ; 
and, through all the fluctuations of your earthly lot, 
you will look forward with unfaltering faith to the 
day, when all that He has promised shall be realized 
to you ; when grief and sin shall invade you no 
more ; when, basking in His eternal smile, you shall 
serve Him with no interruption of obedience, no 
abatement of zeal, no ending of love ; and falling at 
His feet with adoring reverence and praise, snarl 
ascribe " grace unto Him who hath loved you to the 
end." 

With you, my unconverted friends, who have 
never given your hearts to Christ, I would briefly, 
but most earnestly, expostulate. How infatuated is 
your present choice ! What can you find in this 
scene of shadows and illusions, to compare with the 
ineffable blessing of a Saviour's love? For what 
empty and fleetiug pleasures do you barter the sub- 
lime and unperishing hopes which the Gospel holds 
out to you ! And will you continue to refuse His 



328 BIBLE PICTURES. 

overtures ! Will you remaiu iusensible to His 
claims, unaffected by His kindness, unsoftened by 
His pleading agonies? Think, what must be your 
condition, if you die without an interest in Him, 
with no repentance in view of His sufferings, no 
reliance on His grace, no faith to link your perish- 
ing souls to His all-sufficient righteousness ! Into 
the heaven in which He dwells you cannot enter. 
You must go away into everlasting punishment. 
Who can describe the misery of such an exile ? To 
be banished eternally from His presence ; to be con- 
signed to that land of darkness which the smile of 
I lis love never irradiates ; to know that the bosom, 
which once bled for your salvation, no longer feels 
for you ; to see that Eye, once beaming with pity, 
now fixing on you the stern glance of inexorable 
justice ; to hear those blessed lips, which once 
sweetly invited you to come to Him, pronounce the 
sentence, "Depart" — Oh, what hand can be strong, 
what heart can endure, when such a doom enwraps 
the conscious spirit ! Alas, how many are there 
now before me, who are treasuring up this wretch- 
edness for themselves, and over whom the dreadful 
imprecation of the Apostle is hanging, "If any man 
love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema 
maranatha." 

Dear hearer ! flee from that descending curse. 
Hide yourself beneath the wing of Eternal Mercy ; 



Christ's love for his own. 329 

in the arms of that Saviour who ever lives to inter- 
cede for you, who is ready to forgive, and mighty 
to save — say of His bosom alone, this is my refuge, 
here will I rest. He waits to receive you. His 
voice of melting entreaty is heard amid the pauses 
of this world's storm. Oh, listen now to that gra- 
cious call, lest, wearied by delay, He turn from you 
forever ! 

28* 




CHAPTER XVI. 
THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 

"I SAW, AND BEHOLD, A WHITE HORSE; AND HE THAT SAT ON 
HIM nAD A BOW; AND A CROWN WAS GIVEN UNTO HIM J AND HE 
WENT FORTH CONQUERING AND TO CONQUER."— Eev. vi. 2. 

* } HTLLIANT and imposing are the deeds of 
war. In no other field do men reap so 
grand a harvest of renown. They carry 
with them a parade, and pomp, and splen- 
dor, which fascinate the imagination, and 
insure to their performers the richest rewards, and 
the amplest meed of glory. Nor is this tribute, 
great as it is, always extravagant or undeserved. 
Victors in a just war are justly honored. When, 
like Washington and Garibaldi, they draw the 
sword in defense of their native land, and win its 
freedom ; or when, like Grant, and Sherman, and 
F.nragut, they crush a ruthless oligarchy banded 
to destroy that freedom — their achievements merit 
all the applause which the verdict of the ages accords 
to them. How vast is the debt which this nation 
owes to its brave soldiers who, in the hour of its 
dread peril, went forth to battle against the Treason 
that assailed its life ! Well may a grateful people 

330 



THE VICTORIOUS EIDER. 331 

confer on them its noblest guerdons. Cherished be 
the living ; sacred the memory of the dead. 

Not so is it with the champions of an evil cause. 
They who exert their prowess on the side of des- 
potism, who fight for ambition, for wrong, for the 
overthrow of liberty and justice, deserve only the 
reprobation of mankind. Their career is one of 
bootless carnage. Humanity has no interest in 
their successes. Their laurels are stained with the 
tears of the helpless and the blood of the innocent. 
And the wail of subjugated lands proclaims their 
infamy to the heavens and the earth. 

In the Sacred Eecords, however, we may trace 
the history of one Conqueror whose triumphs were 
won at the expense of no blood but His own — 
triumphs that involved no sufferings save those 
which He Himself endured — triumphs that shall 
issue in universal peace and joy. Who is this 
wondrous Victor, whose power is so benign, and 
whose pathway is so bright with mercy? It is 
Christ, the Divine Subduer and Restorer of the 
world. In the views which Scripture gives of His 
redemptive work, He is often described as going 
forth, clad in the habiliments of war and the august 
insignia of dominion, to contend against His puis- 
sant and numerous foes ; driving them before Him 
like the dust of the summer's threshing-floor ; win- 
ning from them field after field and fortress after 



332 BIBLE PICTURES. 

fortress, until He accomplishes their utter defeat, 
amid the rejoicings of the universe. 

One of these representations, as witnessed by the 
rapt seer of Patmos, is set before us in his own 
graphic words. "I saw, and behold, a white horse ; 
and He that sat on him had a bow ; and a crown 
was given unto Him ; and He went forth conquer- 
ing and to conquer." 

Wc need not explain at large the whole series of 
prophetic adumbrations to which this scene belongs. 
It will be sufficient to remark that the " Book sealed 
with seven Seals," introduced in the preceding chap- 
ter, and bearing directly on the revelations of this, 
is symbolic of the Divine purposes ; and that the 
successive loosing of the seals denotes the succes- 
sive unfolding of those purposes to the end of time. 
Immediately upon the opening of the First Seal 
follows the vision of the text — a vision not limited 
to a single period of the Divine government, but 
exhibiting a compendious foreshowing of the work 
of Christ in every age, till the mystery of God shall 
be finished. 

With this view of the connection in which the 
words occur, I proceed to consider, as naturally 
suggested by them, the Enemies, the Weapons, and 
the Victories of Messiah. 

The going forth of Christ as a Conqueror, clearly 
supposes that there are adversaries arrayed to resist 



THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 333 

His progress. Among these the Powers of Dark- 
ness, comprehending the various orders of fallen 
angels ranged under the banner of Satan, may be 
deemed most potent and formidable. The same 
inspired Volume which reveals the existence and 
the character of these apostate spirits, represents 
them as maintaining a fierce and perpetual struggle 
against the cause of Him who came from heaven to 
demolish their fell empire over the hearts of men. 
A foreshadowing of this conflict was given in the 
sentence which God pronounce^-oji _the A rch-De- 
ceiver, at the mournful hour when the blight of 
impurity first dimmed the lustre of the new-made 
earth. " I will put enmity between thee and the 
woman, and between thy seed and her seed ; it 
shall bruise thy head, and- thou shalt bruise his 
heel." From the first announcement of redemp- 
tion, the Promised Deliverer became the chief ob- 
ject of Satanic hostility. Never discouraged, never 
relenting, that hostility pursued Him through all 
the centuries that preceded His advent — through 
all the sorrows of His manifestation in flesh — till 
its utmost rage was poured out in His death on the 
cross. Not even then did the malice of Hell lose 
aught of its bitterness. It has shown itself ever 
since in one ceaseless effort to thwart the Re- 
deemer's purposes, and impede the extension of 
His kingdom. The wickedness that dominates the 



334 BIBLE PICTURES. 

■world, the discords that convulse it, the thickening 
battle between Eight and Wrong, no less than the 
authoritative testimony of Scripture, bear witness 
to the fact that diabolic agencies are still at work 
to oppose the onward march of Messiah — agencies 
whose resources are vast, whose endeavors are 
incessant, but whose overthrow is sure. 

All unconverted men are the adversaries of the 
Son of God. In consequence of the original apos- 
tasy, man possesses a moral nature utterly hostile to 
the character and the will of Christ. No truth is 
more strongly asserted in the Bible than that every 
human being, while unrenewed, is in a state of 
alienatioD alike from the one Father and the one 
Mediator. "The carnal mind is enmity against 
God, and is not subject to His law, neither indeed 
can be." And all in whom its influence remains 
unbroken are charged with the fearful guilt of 
"hating both the Father and the Son." Nor can 
we even glance at the plan of Redemption without 
perceiving that in every part it distinctly assumes 
the absolute and universal estrangement of the 
human heart from its Creator. This view of our 
spiritual position admits of no abatement and of no 
Limitation. Its dread comprehensiveness takes in 
every nation, every period of time, every class, 
every condition, every unsanctified individual of 
earth's fallen family. The whole multitude of the 



THE VICTORIOUS EIDER. 335 

unregenerate, led on by infernal Powers, are lifting 
the blaek flag of rebellion, and waging a deadly 
warfare against that supreme and merciful Saviour, 
before whom every knee should bow, and to whom 
every tongue should confess. 

The depravity of man has, moreover, given birth 
to various systems of falsehood and delusion, which 
interpose new obstacles to the spread of Messiah's 
empire. These systems overshadow the earth, and 
hold in their baleful thraldom untold millions of its 
population. And everywhere they rear up stern 
barriers to the ongoing of Divine truth ; everywhere 
they marshal countless forces to arrest the conquests 
of the Cross. Wherever we turn, we meet their 
bristling front. On whatever side we cast our eyes, 
we see their huge columns drawn up for attack, 
stretching over continents and hemispheres; and, 
however differing in titles, colors, organizations, all 
moving under the great central banner of the Pit — 
Opposition to God and His Christ. In one direc- 
tion, we see the long alignment of those corrupt 
forms of Christianity which, while they arrogate its 
name, are alien from its nature, and traitors to its 
cause. Here muster the followers of those philo- 
sophic unbeliefs, which deny the Divinity of the 
Mediator, the vicarious virtue of His sacrifice, the 
need of the Spirit's office and the Spirit's work ; and 
which regard all religions as of mere earthly origin, 



336 BIBLE PICTURES. 

and confined in their influence to the present life. 
Here range the adherents of that monstrous dogma, 
which scoffs at the retributions of eternity, and 
teaches the final happiness of all men, whatever 
character they bear in this probational stage of their 
being. Here, too, are found the deluded devotees 
of Formalism, worshipping a dead ritual, and trust- 
ing for salvation in the efficacy of perverted sacra- 
ments. And, close beside them, the vast power of 
Romanism displays its serried ranks, tramples God's 
Word in the dust, lifts on high the standard of 
Antichrist, and blazons on its gory folds a Harlot 
drunk with the blood of saints. In another quarter, 
we see the motley hordes of Infidelity, toiling with 
remorseless zeal to overturn the Christian Faith, 
and brand its Author as a cheat ; to sunder the 
bonds of moral obligation, unchain the wild pas- 
sions of men, bl<A Hope from the horizon of the 
soul, and sink the Promise of Immortality in the 
gulf of Nothingness. Farther on, stands embattled 
the tierce Mohammedan Imposture, which has estab- 
lished it- sway by rapine and slaughter, and whose 
iron feet have trodden into ashes the fairest prov- 
inces of the globe. And beyond, in the dim dis- 
tance, where the shadow of death lies unbroken 
upon the nation-, appear the mighty phalanxes of 
Heathenism, vile, besotted, impious, and given up, 
body and soul, to idolatries whose nameless pol- 



THE VICTORIOUS EIDER. 337 

lutions debase their votaries to a level with the 
brute. 

In all these forms of darkness and corruption 
there is the deepest and most rancorous hostility to 
the Son of God. Look where we will, this feet 
startles us by its prominence. In lands evangelized 
as in lands pagan, among peoples refined as among 
peoples rude, we find civilizations, governments,* 
institutions, laws, public and private life, every- 
where pervaded by a spirit of bold and active resist- 
ance to the authority of Heaven. The whole world 
is in arms against its Maker and Eedeemer. On 
every hand we witness the manifestations of rebel- 
lion. All along the ranks of the insurgents we 
hear the stir and din of preparation. The gates of 
the cities are closed ; the sentinels are moving to 
and fro on the ramparts ; from every crag and hill- 
top frown the batteries of forts and castles ; while, 
in the open plain, myriad hosts unmask their long 
and deep array, waving the ensigns of revolt, and 
shouting defiance against the King of kings and 
Lord of lords. How fearful the spectacle ! What 
stupendous energies, inspired by what implacable 
malignity, are there ! Can aught but Infinite Power 
vanquish such a mass of evil, and retrieve it to holi- 
ness and Heaven ? 

Against these combined and multitudinous forces 
the God-man is represented as going forth; and 

29 



3o8 BIBLE PICTURES. 

this leads us to notice the Weapons which He em- 
ploys. The Sacred Limner has pictured Him to us 
riding on f ' a white horse," and armed with a bow. 
The phraseology is, of course, figurative, and is 
intended to mark the majesty, the preparation, and 
the vigor with which He addresses Himself to the 
combat. Oriental princes and commanders, when 
engaged in martial expeditions, were wont to ride 
upon white horses, as a sign of authority and pre- 
eminence. And hence the description of Christ as 
thus borne onward in His spiritual campaigns indi- 
cates His office as the King in Zion, the Captain of 
Salvation, and Leader of the assault on the legions 
of ungodliness. Moreover, in the language of 
Scripture, the horse is a symbol of swiftness ; and 
when Messiah is portrayed as a mounted champion 
rushing to the encounter, the image denotes the 
rapidity with which He pushes forward His con- 
quests. To this end His Providence ministers, by 
the facilities it has furnished for the wider circula- 
tion of the Gospel, and for quick and easy commu- 
nication with all parts of the world. The Pr 
scattering abroad the leaves which are for the heal- 
ing of the nations ; Discovery and Commerce open- 
ing up highways over all the earth ; the traffic thai 
visits every clinic; the sails that whiten every Bea ; 
mshipa defying wind and tide; railways span- 
ning continents; electric win s girdling the globe — 



THE VICTORIOUS RIDER, 339 

these are the fleet steeds that bear His name and 
His power to remotest lands. 

The bow was also a weapon very common and 
very effective in ancient warfare. Its use is ascribed 
both to God the Father and to God the Son. Of 
the Father, it is said, " Thy bow was made quite 
naked, even Thy word;" of the Son, "Thine 
arrows are sharp in the hearts of the King's ene- 
mies, whereby the people fall under Thee." 

The symbolic language of the text, therefore, 
was designed to show that our Immanuel carries 
forward His triumphs through agencies which He 
has chosen for the purpose ; and by which He will 
finally overcome all opposition, and universally 
establish His cause. What, then, are those agen- 
cies? 

The Saviour goes forth to subdue His enemies by 
the publication of His Word. In providing for the 
spread of His Gospel, it was His gracious appoint- 
ment that the facts which compose that Gospel, and 
in the supremacy of which over the hearts of men 
His victories consist, should be placed before the 
eyes of all in the most luminous and impressive 
manner. Hence He has caused them to be clearly 
written out in His Living Oracles. That heaven- 
indited Volume contains the record of His own 
infinite condescension to our fallen race — of His 
mediatorial work, His atoning death, His resurrec- 



340 BIBLE PICTURES. 

tion, and His enthronement in glory. In it is set 
clown every verity which He came to make known, 
every doctrine which He came to teach, every pre- 
cept which He came to inculcate. Throughout its 
wonderful narrative, Jesus Christ appears again in 
His mission of love, lives over again His life of 
humiliation and sorrow, repeats His deeds of mercy, 
is crucified afresh, triumphs anew over the grave, 
soars upward before our eyes to the seat of eternal 
Majesty. Wherever this blessed Book circulates, 
to whatever clime or kindred it comes, with its rev- 
elations of truth, and grace, and salvation, the Son 
.of God goes with it, travelling, in the history of 
His own matchless compassion, from heart to heart, 
from dwelling to dwelling, from nation to nation. 
And so shall He continue to go forth, till by the 
diffusion of His Word the knowledge of Him shall 
be dispersed through all the tribes and habitations 
of earth. 

Superadded to this, and in close alliance with it, 
He has employed the oral preaching of the Gospel. 
He has set apart a distinct order of men to be His 
heralds in all time, and with living voices to pro- 
claim to their fellow-men the message of salvation. 
At the close of His own ministry, when He was 
about to ascend on high, He gave to His Apostles 
the momentous commission, " Go ye into all the 
world, and preach the Gospel to every creature. " 



THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 341 

That commission reaches down through the line of 
succeeding centuries, and is as authoritative now as 
in the hour when it was first uttered. And the 
same promise of success attends it. The ordinance 
establishing a special connection between the preach- 
ing of the Gospel and the conversion of sinners, 
covers all the ages. The Cross of Christ, borne 
aloft in the hands of its ministers, ever has been 
and ever will be the chosen instrument of Grace. 

In this manner it is that Messiah advances to 
the subjugation of His foes. As the steed of the 
warrior bears him over the field of battle, so the 
Redeemer rides abroad on the wings of His Word, 
wielding the bow of His Truth, and scattering far 
and wide its victorious arrows. Thus He goes 
forth amidst our rebellious race, to confront their 
hostility, to vindicate His own glory, to recover and 
rule the world. 

Now, the proclamation of the Gospel, as a means 
of conquest, is eminently adapted to its end, and to 
the constitution of the human mind. In the great 
realities with which it deals, it possesses the fullest 
resources for controlling the corrupt propensities of 
our nature. It unfolds the grandeur of the Divine 
character,- and the spirituality of the Divine law. 
It exhibits the obligations which man owes to God 
as his Creator, Preserver, and Judge. It displays 
the exceeding heinousness of sin, and the sure and 

29* 



342 BIBLE PICTURES. 

terrible wrath which has been revealed from heaven 
against it. It unveils, moreover, that wonderful 
system of Eeconeiliation devised in the councils of 
eternity, and consummated in the Atonement of the 
Cross, by which God commends His love toward 
us, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died 
for us. And it assures us that all who repose a 
vital faith in the Saviour's righteousness shall be 
absolved from guilt, restored to the Divine favor, 
and made heirs of everlasting life. In such a com- 
bination of truths and motives there is, on the one 
hand, everything to alarm ; and, on the other, 
everything to encourage. While its announcements 
of condemnation and punishment are suited to 
awaken fear, its amazing discoveries of mercy are 
no less calculated to inspire hope ; and in this 
double appeal there resides a most potent charm to 
soften the human heart, and win it back to God. 
How evident, then, is it that the preaching of the 
Gospel is an instrument skilfully fitted to promote 
the achievements of the Gospel, and that it is, 
indeed, the wisdom of God and the power of God 
unto salvation ! 

The Son of God goes forth to vanquish His ene- 
mies by the agency of His Spirit. It is a fact as 
startling as it is mournful, that notwithstanding the 
adaptation alike of the Gospel and of its ministry 
to subdue the hearts of men, yet so obdurate ia 



THE VICTORIOUS EIDER. 343 

their depravity, and so invincible the hold which 
unbelief has on them, that never would they yield 
to the message of love, were it not energized by an 
almighty Influence sent down from heaven. Who 
knows not that throughout the Gospel4iistory, what- 
ever work is attributed to the word of God is 
attributed to the power of the Spirit accompanying 
that word? This great truth underlies and per- 
meates all the New Testament Writings. They 
everywhere set forth the Spirit as the Author of 
conviction, the Author of repentance, the Author of 
faith, the Author of all renovating grace and of all 
celestial blessings. In the economy of redemption, 
this glorious Agent, while possessing all the attri- 
butes proper to Deity, is placed in subserviency to 
the work of the Son, with a view to the advance- 
ment of His triumphs. And what wonder is it if 
at His bidding the tumults of human rebellion are 
hushed into silence ! What wonder if before His 
might all the powers of Hell tremble and shrink 
away ! What wonder if through His energy the 
cross of the despised and rejected ISTazarene receive 
the homage of a world ! 

Such is the panoply with which the Saviour goes 
forth. Oh, how unlike the weapons which earthly 
conquerors employ ! Here is no sword to destroy, 
no fire to ravage and lay waste, no engines of wrath 
and havoc to spread devastation over provinces and 



344 BIBLE PICTURES. 

empires. Around the path of the white horse and 
its crowned Eider no charging squadrons whirl, no 
sabres flash, no murderous cannon roar. In place 
of war's stern excitements, the commotion, the wild 
fury, the clash of arms, the death-grapple, mangled 
corpses, and garments rolled in blood, what do we 
see ? Heralds of Mercy, bearing her white banner, 
and dispensing words of peace to the apostate ; 
while the gracious Spirit renders those words effect- 
ual in melting, purifying, and saving every soul into 
which they find entrance. 

From this view of Messiah's weapons, let us pass 
to consider Messiah's victories. "A crown was 
given unto Him ; and He went forth conquering 
and to conquer." 

The victories of Christ are legitimate. In the 
history of the world, military successes have often 
been hideous wrongs. Fired with the lust of do- 
minion, the demigods of battle have invaded realms 
to which they had no claim, and have extended 
their power only by the law of the strongest. But 
the moral conquests of Jesus are based on absolute 
and unimpeachable right. "A crown was given 
unto Him," as a sign that He was entitled to reign, 
and as a sign that all things had been committed to 
His hands. This crown is not to be regarded as a 
symbol of the sovereignty which belongs to Him as 
Divine; for that, being original and underbred, is 



THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 345 

incapable of increase. It is His authority as Medi- 
ator which is here indicated. In the sacrifice which 
He offered on Calvary, He laid the foundation of 
that spiritual empire over which He now presides, 
and which is to continue through all time. Reve- 
lation accordingly assures us that, in compensation 
of His sufferings, He has been invested with the 
government of all beings and of all worlds. He 
Himself declared after His resurrection, "All 
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth." 
And St. Paul, speaking of His humiliation and of 
its resultant glory, says, K Wherefore God also hath 
highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which 
is above every name ; that at the name of Jesus 
every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and 
things in earth, and things under the earth." 

His ascension to the right hand of the Father was 
the hour of His coronation — of His public entrance 
upon the Lordship of the universe. Hence, in the 
sublime vision of Isaiah, the angels that throng 
Heaven's battlements are represented as beholding 
Him on His return from the field of His conflict, 
and inquiring with mingled wonder and adoration, 
" Who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed 
garments from Bozrah? — this that is glorious in His 
apparel, travelling in the greatness of His strength ? " 
And the voice of the triumphant Immanuel is heard 
in answer, "I, that speak in righteousness, mighty 



346 BIBLE PICTURES. 

to save." Again, iu the same scene, the spirits that 
keep guard without the golden portals of the Eter- 
nal City, are described as saying, "Lift up your 
heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlast- 
ing doors ; and the King of Glory shall come in." 
The hosts within inquire, "TYlio is this King of 
Glory?" And they without reply, "The Lord, 
strong and mighty ; the Lord mighty in battle — 
He is the King of Glory." The Being, at whose 
approach all the ranks of celestial Intelligences were 
thus moved and transported, was the conquering 
Messiah coming to take possession of His empire. 
It was Christ triumphing over principalities and 
powers, and making a show of them openly. It 
was Christ, "bearing the scars of honor in His flesh, 
and the joy of victory in His eyes." It was Christ 
— His vesture dipped in blood — the keys of Death 
and Hell at His girdle — ascending with these me- 
morials of His sacrifice, to claim, by the worth of 
that sacrifice, His appointed supremacy in the king- 
dom of Grace. The claim was admitted. He was 
crowned — enthroned. And now He is "exalted 
far above all principality and power and might and 
dominion, and every name that is named, not only 
in this world, but also in that which is to com;' ; 
and hath put all things under His feet ; and is made 
Head over all things to His Church, the fulness of 
Ilim that filleth all in all." Jesus is thus anointed 



THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 347 

King over the realms of Providence and of Redemp- 
tion. This whole world belongs to His royal do- 
main. He purchased it, He owns it, He governs it : 
and He has, therefore, an unquestionable right to 
conquer back from the clutch of the Usurper every 
inch of its still alienated territory. 

The triumphs of Messiah are ever growing. 
f ' He went forth conquering and to conquer/' The 
thought is that of continuity — of a progress in tri- 
umph, always moving on, without check or pause, 
to its grand and final consummation. How accu- 
rately does this conception illustrate the career of 
our Divine Commander ! From the battle ground 
of the Crucifixion, where He gave to the Powers of 
Evil their first great defeat, down along the track 
of epochs and ages, His march has been one con- 
stant victory ; and so shall it be in the eras to come, 
till the last enemy is destroyed, and the last vestige 
of rebellion swept from the earth. 

Of the early victories which He achieved over 
the prejudices of the Jew and the idolatry of the 
Gentile, we are furnished with numerous and most 
striking proofs. He went forth with the Apostles 
and Evangelists, in whose hearts and on whose 
lips yet glowed the Pentecostal flame : and wherever 
they published the story of Has Cross, there rattled 
His exhaustless quiver, there sounded His all-con- 
quering bow. The swift hoofs of the white courser 



348 BTBLE PICTURES. 

rung out ou the rocky hills of Palestine — along 
the temple-studded coasts of Asia Minor — along 
the Tigris, along the Euphrates, along the immemo- 
rial Nile, by the Pyramids, by the crumbling cities 
of the Pharaohs, by the tombs of forgotten genera- 
tions — across the isle-gemmed iEgean — along the 
historic shores of Greece — along the classic porti- 
coes of Athens — along the pavements of imperial 
Pome — away, away, faster and farther, over land 
and over sea — away, away, to the utmost bounds 
of the peopled earth — grinding into powder fane 
and shrine, gods and goddesses ; scattering to the 
winds old mythologies and effete superstitions ; and 
waking the slumbering nations to a new life. Oh, 
glorious was the going forth of the sceptred Rider ! 
The fishermen and tent-makers that formed His ret- 
inue, followed Him like conquerors in a triumphal 
procession, ever chanting the exultant strain, "The 
weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty 
through God to the pulling down of strongholds ; 
casting down imaginations, and every high thing that 
exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and 
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedi- 
ence of Christ." Grandly was the battle fought, 
and grand w T ere its results. The temples of Idolatry 
w r cre smitten to the ground. Systems of falsehood, 
deeply rooted, and fortified by the homage of ages, 
were overthrown. The Cross rose above the dust 



THE VICTORIOUS EIDER. 349 

of forsakeu altars, and the ruins of thrones. And 
the last champion of Heathenism, slain on the field 
where he vainly strove to restore its fallen power, 
confessed the issue with his dying breath, " Galilean ! 
thou hast conquered." 

But not then alone did Messiah conquer. He has 
conquered since ; and He still goes forth to conquer. 
Behold His victories in modern times. He went 
forth and conquered with that solitary monk, who 
came out from his convent in Germany > and sent 
over all Europe the cry of a renovated Christianity. 
He went forth and conquered with the Pilgrims, 
who, fleeing from prelatic oppression in the father- 
land, planted on New England's rocky coast a free 
worship and a pure Gospel, and lighted up a flame 
that shall never be quenched, and never grow dim, 
till it is merged in the brightness of the latter day. 
He went forth and conquered with the venerated 
men, who founded on these shores the churches of 
our own faith, restoring the ordinances of God's 
house, and erecting a standard of primitive purity, 
around which all true believers will at length gather 
and unite. He has gone forth and conquered in 
those great religious awakenings which have distin- 
guished our own age and countiy, and in which we 
perceive the beginnings of that mighty movement of 
the hearts of men, that is to usher in the conversion 
of the world. He has gone forth with the mission- 

30 



350 BIBLE PICTURES. 

aries who have carried His Word to the burning: 
climes of Asia and Africa, to the solitudes of the 
frozen zone, to the islands of far off seas; and 
He has conquered there. Nations have cast away 
their idols ; and on the scene of infernal rites and 
human sacrifices have risen the temples of the living 
God. He goes forth still, in the plenitude of his 
subduing grace, wherever His servants scatter the 
seed of the kingdom, whether in the sanctuaries of 
a Christian land, or among the neglected and desti- 
tute in the forgotten retreats of the wilderness, or 
on the desolate shores where darkness and the 
shadow of death spread their starless gloom. 

And yet He shall go forth to conquer. Never 
will the mystic steed relax its swiftness — never 
will the bow strung in heaven cease to ply its ar- 
rows — while sin dominates one lone spot, or one 
lone heart, for which Jesus died. The march, the 
battle will go on with wider sweep and more deci- 
sive triumphs — on from generation to generation 
— on over empires and continents — on from the 
young West to the old East, from the icy North to 
the blazing South — on, on, still on, never receding, 
never resting, till Messiah shall have put all ene- 
mies under His feet. And this crowning end is 
certain. All the beckonings of events, and all the 
foretellings of prophecy, and all the movements of 
the Gospel, and all the pledges of Divine faithful- 



THE VI C TOE 10 US HIDEE. 351 

ness, point forward to an era when every tribe and 
kindred and people shall own the Redeemer's sway. 
Oh, it is coming, it is coming ! Babylon, the Apos- 
tate, will sink like lead in the mighty waters. In- 
fidelity will be driven back to the abyss from which 
it issued. The Crescent will waste away and dis- 
appear from the moral heavens. Heathenism, 
which stretches its fearful shroud over three 
quarters of the globe, shall live but in the memory 
of the past. The aspects of the time, the direction 
of human thought, the uprising of God's children, 
the spiritual agencies at work, the spiritual revolu- 
tions in progress, are pregnant with tokens of a 
brighter epoch than the earth has ever seen. All 
things portend the speedy birth of the new creation, 
the advent of the world's great Sabbath. 

The victories of Christ are conducive to human 
happiness. In this respect, what a striking con- 
trast may be traced between the Conqueror pre- 
sented to us in the text, and those by whom that 
character has been sustained among men ! The 
world has had its Alexanders, its Caesars, its Napo- 
leons, who have swept like fierce tornadoes over its 
loveliest realms, leaving behind them wasted fields, 
plundered cities, depopulated countries, the wail of 
sorrow, or the silence of despair. But look at Him, 
who with His weapons of ethereal temper goes forth 
to invade the empire of depravity, and the strong- 



352 BIBLE PICTURES. 

holds of delusion aud imposture. Blessings rich 
aud mauifold spring up wherever He comes. 
He never lifts His hand but to confer a boon. He 
never opens His lips but to utter a promise. He 
never strikes a blow but to break the chain of a 
captive. His power is exerted, not to destroy, but 
to save. The kingdom which He seeks to establish 
is righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost. He condemns the sword to the scabbard. 
He lays aside the instruments of destruction, hushes 
the thunders of vengeance, and with messages of 
love, and the soft yet resistless drawings of His 
Spirit, moves on in His bloodless career, prostra- 
ting before Him the sturdiest foes, erecting His 
throne in human hearts, and gathering His trophies 
from the evils He subdues and the souls He regen- 
erates. And thus shall He continue to advance till 
His victories encompass the earth. 

On the arrival of that predicted day when His 
conquests shall be complete, and all nations shall 
have bowed to His sceptre, what will be the ap- 
pearance of our globe ? Lands red with carnage ? 
Plains strewed with the dead ? Provinces ravaged, 
cities stormed and sacked, habitations deserted and 
silent, or resounding only with the voice of woe, 
and the shrieks of the dying? Oh, no, no! Far, 
for different will be the scenes which this emanci- 
pated world will then present. The curse which 



THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 353 

has so long burdened and disfigured it will be 
removed, and primeval freshness and beauty mantle 
its entire expanse. " The wolf shall lie down with 
the lamb, and the leopard shall lie dowm with the 
kid, and the calf and the young lion together; and 
a little child shall lead them." In all the redeemed 
earth there shall be nothing to hurt or destroy. 
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation ; neither 
shall they learn war any more. Strife and violence 
and wron2f and sin and sorrow shall be banished 
forever. God shall come down, and fix His dwell- 
ing among men, wiping away all tears from all 
faces, creating all things new, and spreading uni- 
versal holiness and bliss over this lon2f scourged 
and revolted planet. It is thus that Messiah will 
accomplish the vision, and bring into actual expe- 
rience the blessedness which it foreshadows. 

With what solemn urgency do these thoughts 
invoke the followers of Christ to labor for the exten- 
sion of His kingdom ! Soldiers of the conquering 
Jesus ! hear you not the summons which comes to 
you from earth and heaven, to gird on your armor, 
and hasten to the combat ! As the bearer of my 
Master's standard, I unfurl it amidst the sacra- 
mental host, and conjure you to rally round it, and 
go forth to the great battle of Jehovah with the 
powers of ungodliness. The field of conflict is 
before you. See the hostile forces confronting each 

30* 



35-4 BIBLE PICTURES. 

other in dense and dread array. Watch the prepa- 
ration, the evolutions, the suspense, "on the grim 
edge of perilous war." Listen to the words of com- 
mand, the call of the trumpets, the shouting of the 
heralds. Hark! the battle din comes rolling on. 
God's saints are rushing to the encounter. March ! 
march ! to swell their onset, and share their vic- 
tory. In the words to which many a hero's bosom 
has lately thrilled, "Go where glory awaits you" — 
not the glory of earth's battle-fields, but of heaven's 
— the glory of rescuing the lost: — the glory of 
striking off the fetters from the enslaved — of lead- 
ing the captives out of the prison house, of minis- 
tering to the joy of angels over sinners saved, and 
hastening the period when the sons of men, with 
one acclaim, shall celebrate the liberty with which 
Christ has made them free. 

Fear not repulse. Falter not at the numbers and 
strength of the foe. He who leads }~ou on is infinite 
in wisdom and in power, and cannot be defeated. 
AY here the strife is thickest, where the uproar is 
loudest, where the shock is deadliest, there is the 
"white horse," and its resistless Rider, with His 
crown on His head, and His bow in His hand. 
Above all the turmoil and confusion shines that glit- 
tering crown, directing the struggle, and deciding 
its issue. The crowned One must conquer. 

We may fall before the fight is done. But the 



THE VICTORIOUS RIDER. 355 

vision remains to be fulfilled, and it shall not lin- 
ger. Soon the final charge will be made, and Evil, 
driven from all its positions, be hurled into the lake 
of fire, to vex the world no more. Then the noise 
of battle will die away. The whole earth will be at 
rest, quiet as a loving child under its Father's smile ; 
and amid the hush, and stillness, and holy peace, 
and serene joy of a restored creation, the voice 
of the triumphing Christ will proclaim, "It is 
finished." 

" All hail ! the age of crime and suffering ends ; 
The reign of righteousness from heaven descends : 
Vengeance forever sheathes the afflicting sword ; 
Death is destroyed, and Paradise restored; 
Man, rising from the ruins of his fall, 
Is one with God, and God is all in all." 




CHAPTER XVII. 
THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 

"The same came to Jesus by night."— John iii. 2. 

q^J/HE day, one of the high days of the Pass- 
over, is now closed, and darkness has set- 
tled down upon the Holy City. The voice 
of prayer, the hymn of praise, the smoke of 
sacrifices and incense, no longer rise from 
the Temple, and from its hallowed precincts. The 
sounds of festivity have ceased ; and over the mot- 
ley crowds of Jews and proselytes gathered from 
all lands, slumber stretches its silence-distilling 
wand. 

Worn with labor, and grieved at the unbelief and 
obduracy of those for whose good He toiled, Jesus 
has retired with His disciples to some secluded spot 
— perhaps to Bethany, ever His favorite retreat — 
there to rest His exhausted frame, and draw from 
lonely communion with His Father new strength for 
the atoning work that lies before Him. 

And now from one of the most sumptuous dwell- 
ings of the great city a man is seen to come forth. 
His stealthy step, and the furtive glance which he 

356 



THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 357 

casts around, would seem to mark him out as bent 
on some deed of crime or shame. But the noble- 
ness of his bearing, and the clear, though troubled, 
expression of his eye, forbid such a suspicion. His 
garb and demeanor evidently indicate that he occu- 
pies a position much above the common class. He 
is, indeed, no ordinary person. He belongs to the 
sect of the Pharisees, the members of which were 
held in high repute for religious knowledge and 
sanctity of life, and were reverenced by all ranks as 
guides and instructors. But a still greater dignity 
is his. He is "a ruler of the Jews," a member of 
the Sanhedrim, the supreme court of the nation ; 
and, if profane records are to be trusted, few of his 
countrymen are more wealthy, learned and eminent 
than he. 

But what does he here in the silence and dark- 
ness of night ? What occasion for such caution and 
secresy ? Why does he look so anxiously on every 
side, as if fearful that some prying eye should rest 
upon him? All day, and perhaps for several days, 
he has listened to the heavenly truths that have 
fallen from the lips of Jesus, and witnessed His 
wonderful works. His judgment is persuaded that 
He, who utters such precepts, and exhibits such 
power, must be " a teacher sent from God," and 
may be the long-promised Messiah. But the lowly 
and unpretending form in which Jesus of Nazareth 



358 BIBLE PICTURES. 

appears, the character of His mission and of His 
preaching, so different from the sensual expectations 
of the Jews, rouse all his prejudices, and stagger 
his new-born convictions. Ashamed to acknowl- 
edge his belief in One whom his haughty and self- 
righteous associates deride as an ignorant Galilean ; 
too proud to seek instruction from Christ openly, 
and yet afraid wholly to reject Him, lest he should 
thereby cast awajr the mercy of God — he resolves 
on the expedient of visiting Him by night ; hoping 
thus to consult at once his worldly standing and his 
religious safety. And yet, as he goes forth to exe- 
cute this purpose, by what fears and misgivings is 
he beset ! While moving along the streets, he 
starts at the echo of his own footsteps, and seems to 
see at every corner the gaze of some proud Phari- 
see fixed scornfully upon him. As he passes the 
gates, he imagines the very keepers look as if con- 
scious of his errand. And when he climbs the 
Mount of Olives on his way to Bethairy — though 
all is quiet and solitary in its deserted groves — he 
yet trembles at every rustling leaf, as if it betrayed 
the presence of some hidden spy, watching his 
movements. 

What a picture is this of a stubborn, self-righteous 
sinner, inflated with the idea of his own conse- 
quence, unwilling to confess before men his need of 
the Saviour's grace, and his determination to seek 



THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 359 

it ; and still, with the truth burning on his con- 
science, and the Holy Spirit plying him with cease- 
less remonstrance, unable to find comfort or rest ! 
How long will he struggle before he takes any step 
toward securing his salvation ! And when at last 
he does in some measure yield to his convictions, 
how partial is the surrender ! What a compromise 
does he endeavor to make between his pride and his 
religious impressions ! How does he strive to skulk 
into the kingdom of heaven ! And how do shame 
and the fear of man dog him, like pursuing demons, 
at every step ! Few are they who, thus setting out 
to go to Christ, ever reach Him. 

It would have been just had the Saviour declined 
to admit to His presence one so undecided in his 
feelings, and so selfish in his motives. But amidst 
the worldly views and feelings which still held the 
mastery over him, there seems to have been a real, 
though timid and feeble, desire to know the truth ; 
and our compassionate Lord, who never " quenched 
the smoking flax," nor refused to impart instruction 
to any sincere inquirer, however doubting and 
hesitating, graciously welcomed his approach, and 
sought to guide him to the light of eternal life. 
How should this encourage the most wavering and 

o o 

irresolute to draw near to Christ for mercy ! The 
clouds of earth and sense may overshadow your 
spiritual perceptions : but if there be in the soul a 



360 BIBLE PICTURES. 

single spark of feeling in reference to your immortal 
welfare, go at once to the Saviours feet, and He 
will enlighten your darkness, and bring you to the 
knowledge of His grace. 

The address of Nicodemus to Christ, while it was 
respectful, indicates the hesitation of his mind as to 
the real character and office of our Lord. " We 
know that thou art a teacher come from God ; for 
no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except 
God be with him." That Jesus bore a divine com- 
mission was manifest from His works. But was He 
the Messiah, the Son of God, the Prince and Sav- 
iour of Israel, whose coming had been so long fore- 
told and so ardently desired? The wonders of 
mercy and love which he wrought, and the celestial 
wisdom of His teachings, pointed Him out as bear- 
ing this glorious character. But if so, where were 
the outward appearances, the high descent, the 
pomp and grandeur, the marshalled hosts, the vic- 
tories, the symbols of temporal dominion, which 
the carnal Jews had associated with the advent of 
their promised Deliverer? It was this absence of 
worldly power, so contrary to all his preconceived 
ideas, which caused Nicodemus to doubt whether 
Jesus of Nazareth were the Christ. And it was 
with a view to the solution of this difficulty, that 
he sought the interview which forms our theme. 

The reply of our Saviour may appear, at the first 



THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 361 

glance, not only inappropriate, but exceedingly ab- 
rupt. A little reflection, however, will show that it 
w r as precisely the answer which the mental state of 
His inquirer needed. The mind of Nicodemus was 
beclouded by the Jewish dream of an earthly Mes- 
siah, and a secular kingdom to be established by 
Him. Hence it was necessary, in the outset, to 
dissipate this illusion, in order to prepare the way 
for higher views, and more spiritual conceptions. 
The Saviour, therefore, opens His discourse with 
the startling announcement, n Except a man be 
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." 
Thus, without preface or circumlocution, He de- 
clares the spiritual nature of the kingdom which He 
came to set up, and the solemn fact that none could 
become members of that kingdom but by a spiritual 
birth from on high. It is as if He had said — You, 
and the class to which you belong, misunderstand- 
ing the prophecies, and giving a carnal hue to the 
glories which they unfold, are looking for a tempo- 
ral prince who shall overthrow your political ene- 
mies, and exalt the Jewish nation to universal 
empire. But the kingdom which I have come to 
found, is not of this w T orlcl. It is a spiritual king- 
dom, the kingdom of truth and righteousness, the 
kingdom of God ; a kingdom whose attributes are 
holiness and peace, and whose triumphs w T ill consist, 
not in the downfall of civil dynasties, but in the 
31 



362 BIBLE PICTURES. 

overthrow of falsehood, sin, and wrong ; a kingdom 
whose subjects shall be made such, not by natural 
birth, or hereditary right, but by moral qualities — 
by the reception of a new life from above. With- 
out this, none can enter my kingdom here, or be 
admitted into that kingdom of final purity and 
blessedness in heaven, of which the kingdom of 
grace on earth is the preparation and the type. 

To remove still further the darkness that yet 
hung over the vision of His wondering listener, the 
Divine Teacher proceeds to state the Agent by 
whose power this new creation should be accom- 
plished. " Except a man be born of water and of 
the Spirit " — of the Spirit as the Author of the in- 
ward change, of water as the outward symbol of 
that change — "he cannot enter into the kingdom 
of God." " That which is born of the flesh is flesh." 
The children of humanity, in their natural state, are 
earthly, sinful, and wholly unfit for heaven. " That 
which is born of the Spirit is spirit." The children 
of the Spirit are regenerate, justified, sanctified, 
meet for the celestial world. "Marvel not that I 
say unto thee, ye must be born again." The change 
is, indeed, mysterious and inscrutable. But this 
•abates nothing either from its reality or its indispen- 
sableness. 

Under the warm sky of Palestine, they were 
doubtless conversing in the open air; and at that 



THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 3 Go 

moment the night wind was heard rustling among 
the branches of the surrounding trees. In accord- 
ance with His usual custom, Christ seizes upon this 
natural fact to illustrate the great spiritual fact 
which He was presenting. "The wind bloweth 
where it listeth, and thou nearest the sound thereof, 
but canst not tell whence it cometh, nor whither it 
goeth. So is every one that is born of the Spirit." 
The wind is invisible. No mortal eye can trace its 
form. Its existence is known only by its effects. 
But you hear the sound of its moving breath. You 
see the forests bowing, the grass waving, the 
waters rippling at its touch ; and you know it is 
there. So no human thought can scan the way of 
the Spirit. But His presence is manifested by His 
works. You see the proud humbled, the corrupt 
cleansed, the dead in sin pervaded by the life of 
holiness ; and you may know He is there — there 
in His renewing and saving energy. 

In answer to the question of Mcodemus, "How 
can these things be ? " our Lord proclaimed the au- 
thority by which He spoke, and the sure ground on 
which He affirmed the certainty of the great truth 
He was propounding. "T\ r e speak that which we 
do know, and testify that which we have seen." I 
speak of heavenly things ; of the purity and happi- 
ness of the celestial world, and of the spiritual birth 
by which alone the fallen sons of earth can inherit 



304 BIBLE PICTURES. 

its glories. How shall blind and sensual men 
comprehend this? "No man hath ascended into 
heaven, but He that came down from heaven, 
even the Son of Man which is in heaven." You, 
ignorant of the nature of heaven, may question the 
necessity of any moral transformation to fit men for 
it. But I have been in heaven. I belong to heaven. 
I came from heaven. I know what heaven is. I 
know its spirituality, its holiness, its pure society, 
its lofty employments ; and I know — I know, that 
no unregenerate man can by any possibility obtain 
a share in that kingdom of blessedness. In the nice 
of such declarations from such a source, what folly 
is it for impenitent men to imagine that they shall 
go to heaven, though they live and die strangers to 
the renewing influence of the Spirit ! 

To show the provision of Divine Mercy for this 
spiritual revolution in the characters of men, the 
Saviour brings forward the grand fact which under- 
lies the whole system of agencies for the recovery 
of our race — the atonement for sin which He was 
to offer on the cross. "As Moses lifted up the ser- 
pent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of 
Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him 
should not perish, but have eternal life." Here, 
then, was the great central truth in the economy of 
Grace, which the Spirit was to employ in renewing 
the hearts of men. It was by pressing home upon 



THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 365 

them the death of Christ as a sacrifice for their sins, 
that He was to subdue their rebellion, eradicate 
their corruptions, and implant the love of God in 
their souls. And it was through the merits of that 
sacrifice, applied by the Spirit, that the believer 
was to receive pardon, justification, and life ever- 
lasting. 

Thus, examining the instruction which our Lord 
gave to Nicodemus, we find it not only appropriate, 
but most significant and suggestive, containing in a 
brief compass the whole essence of the Gospel. 
The fallen and sinful state of men by nature ; the 
absolute necessity of a moral change in their charac- 
ter, so complete as to be denominated "a being 
born again," in order to prepare them for admission 
into the kingdom of God ; the Divine Agent to 
whom this work is committed ; the Blood of Atone- 
ment through which He is to effect it ; the salvation 
of all who embrace the Eedeemer ; the perdition of 
all who reject Him — are here compendiously set 
forth by the lips of Him who spoke as man never 
spoke. 

Who can describe the emotions of the astonished 
listener, as truths so new, so startling, fell on his 
ear ? In the earlier stages of the conversation he 
evinces doubt — objects — questions. But as the 
discourse proceeds ; as the Divine Preacher unfolds 
His mighty theme ; lifts the veil of eternity ; speaks 

31* 



366 BIBLE PICTURES. 

of Himself as having descended from its mysterious 
abodes ; and points to the cross on which He was 
soon to suffer for" the sins of a world — the mind of 
Nicodemus is pervaded by strange and unwonted 
sensations. He asks no more questions. Doubt 
and incredulity die within him. Subdued, awe- 
struck, he listens while those words of eternal 
import flow on, and the voice of the God-man alone 
breaks the surrounding stillness. At length, that 
voice is silent ; and there they sit, in the deep hush 
of night, under the watching stars — the Heavenly 
Teacher looking down with pity and love upon the 
earthly learner at His feet ; and the learner looking 
up, with dawning faith and reverence, into that 
Divine Face, so meek, so gentle, so full of yearning 
tenderness, yet so stamped with Deity in every line. 
And so they parted — the Teacher retiring to His 
lowly rest — the inquirer going back to his lordly 
home in the great city. But it is a different man 
that now treads the moonlit paths of Olivet. The 
germ of a new life is struggling in his soul. A new 
faith is beginning to break through the clouds of his 
unbelief. A new star of hope is rising before his 
spiritual eye. The gracious principle within him is 
yet feeble, and is environed by a mass of worldly ele- 
ments, by a host of carnal prepossessions and preju- 
dices, that may for a time smother and overpower 
it. But "the seed of the kingdom" has been 



THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 367 

planted, and it shall at last come up to the light 
through every obstruction, and bear fruit unto life 
eternal. From subsequent facts recorded in the 
New Testament, we cannot doubt that Nicodemus 
was a sincere believer in Christ. And though from 
the fear of persecution, and the malign force of sec- 
ular influences, he did not openly declare his con- 
victions, nor publicly join himself to the company 
of the disciples, there is yet satisfactoiy evidence, 
that from the hour of his memorable interview with 
Jesus, he had in heart recognized Him as the true 
Messiah. In several instances we find him boldly 
defending Jesus against the injustice and rage of 
the Sanhedrim. And after the hatred of the rulers 
had culminated in the crucifixion of the Saviour, 
Nicodemus, in company with Joseph of Ariinathea, 
brought costly spices to embalm His body, and 
assisted at His burial ; thus paying the tribute of 
grief and love to the sacred remains of Him whose 
Divine words, spoken at night in the solitude of 
Bethany, first woke in his soul contrition for sin, 
and unveiled to the eye of his faith the hope of sal- 
vation through a suffering Eedeemer. 

From this interesting narrative we learn that the 
be^innino; of true religion in the soul is often weak 
and undecided. For a time, it appears to be hid- 
den and well-nigh lost amid the hostile influences 
which environ it. Instances of conversion there are 



368 BIBLE BTCTUIiES. 

in which the germ of faith bursts at once into full 
flower and fruitage. But such sudden development 
is rare in the annals of Christian experience. Here 
and there one, like Saul of Tarsus, may be struck 
by a flash of light from heaven, and brought in a 
moment to a clear perception of the claims of Jesus, 
and an entire consecration to Him. Examples of 
this kind are, however, peculiar and exceptional. 
The case of Nicodemus* has been far more frequently 
reproduced in the history of the church than that of 
Paul. As on a morning of clouds, the sun, shorn 
of its brightness, struggles upward through encom- 
passing mists, so the uprising of grace in the soul is 
ordinarily beset with hindrances, obscured by the 
- of unbelief, and overshadowed by doubts and 
temptations. Like the "little leaven," to which our 
Lord compared it, it may seem wholly inadequate 
to pervade and transform the vast bulk of inert ma- 
terial by which it is surrounded. Nevertheless, it 
is vital, expansive, aggressive. It can never die. 
Oppressed and kept down by inactivity and world- 
liness, it may develop slowly; but fostered by the 
same Divine Hand which planted it' at first, it will 
stow and gather strength, until it exerts a control- 
ling influence over the entire character and life. 
The \i'iy conflicts which it has to meet are among 
the agencies by which it is to he established and 
confirmed. As bleak winds cause the tender tree 



THE SERMON AT NIGHT. 369 

to strike its roots more deeply into the kindly soil, 
check its luxuriance of wood and leaf, and harden it 
for the climatic changes that await it ; so the. mis- 
givings and struggles which often impede the early 
progress of piety, serve to render that progress 
more careful, more stable, and ultimately more 
complete. 

Abandon not courage and hope, therefore, be- 
cause the power of the new life within you is yet 
immature and feeble. If that life has, indeed, been 
kindled by the Holy Spirit in your heart, its final 
victory is certain. The work which He begins can 
never fail. The renovation that comes from Him 
is deathless as its Author. Nurtured by prayer, by 
vigilance, by self-denial, by the living Bread of 
Heaven, the principle of holiness will shoot up into 
steadfastness and vigor ; the dimness of your spirit- 
ual perceptions will pass away ; your trembling 
hope become strong; and the dawn of salvation, 
now faintly gleaming amid darkness, doubt, and 
fear, burst at length into the perfect day. 



CHAPTER XYIII. 

DEEP FISHING. 
"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a 

DRAUGHT."— Luke v. 4. 

'T is sunrise on the Sea of Gcnncsareth. The 
sky is flecked with gold and vermilion; the 
mountains are steeped in a ruddy glow ; and 
the still waters, stirred by the breath of morn* 
ing, wake into rippling life. 
Worn with labor, Jesus comes down to the shore, 
seeking quiet in its solitude, and vigor from its 
refreshing breezes. He finds there four of His dis- 
ciples, Peter and Andrew, James and John, who, 
niter a night of unsuccessful fishing, have sriven 
over their efforts, and brought their boats to the 
land. AVhile He is conversing with them, the mul- 
titudes that, in their eagerness to hear I lis words 
and to witness His miracles, had thronged Him 
during all the preceding day, follow Him to the 
beach, and again gather round Him with an interest 
more absorbing, and in greatly augmented numbers. 
So compact is the mass, and so intense the anxiety 
to catch every syllable from His lips, that not only 

370 



DEEP FISHIXG. 371 

is there no standing room left from which He can 
address them, but He is even in danger of beino' 
pressed into the water by His crowding listeners. 

In these circumstances. He beckons to Peter to 
bring his boat to the spot ; and entering it, and re- 
questing its owner to push out a little way from the 
land, He seats Himself in the stern sheets, and 
thence discourses to the people. How simple, yet 
how sublime the scene ! The blue heaven above, 
the blue depths beneath, the green hillside and its 
vast conoTea'ation before Him — every eve fixed, 
every ear attent to drink in the divine music of His 
voice ! There is a solemn hush, a brooding silence 
— and the tones of the God-man alone are heard, 
going forth over sea and shore, telling of the love 
of the All-Father, of mercy for the guilty, of hope 
for the fallen, of salvation for the lost. Lowly pul- 
pit ! Glorious sermon ! Xever have the pillared 
aisles of earth's proudest cathedrals echoed with 
utterances so sweet, so majestic, so full of grace 
and power, as those which now ring out upon the 
charmed waves and listening heights of the Galilean 
Lake! 

At length, those words of eternal Truth cease to 
flow, and the rapt auditors retire slowly and mus- 
ingly to their homes. Our Saviour, as mindful 
ever of the wants of the body as of the soul, of tem- 
poral as of spiritual concerns, and knowing that the 



372 BIBLE PICTURES. 

disciples were dependent for support on the fruits 
of their occupation, determines to recompense them 
for the ill fortune of the night, and the ready obe- 
dience of the morning. Peter has converted his 
boat into a pulpit for Christ : and now Christ will 
pay him for its use in a manner which he little ex- 
pects. With this intent, He commands him to 
launch out into the deep, and let down his nets for 
a draught. The future apostle is already a firm 
believer in the wonder-working energy of Jesus, 
and has seen too many instances of its forthputting 
to question its reality or its amplitude. Hence, his 
answer, so far from implying hesitation and doubt, 
expresses a faith that can trust and be strong even 
against adverse experience. "We have toiled all 
the night, and have taken nothing; nevertheless, at 
Thy word I will let down the net." 

His confidence, however, undergoes a harder 
trial when he perceives the direction in which the 
Saviour is leading him. The basin of the Gennesa- 
reth is of volcanic origin, and is only a lower depres- 
sion of the great Jordan Valley which stretches 
from the foot of Lebanon to the southern extremity 
of the Dead Sea, and lies, through its whole course, 
many hundred feet below the level of the Mediter- 
ranean. In consequence of this formation, the cen- 
tral portion of the lake is often very deep, and 
inaccessible by any ordinary methods of (lie pisca- 



DEEP FISRIXG. 373 

fcory art. The apparatus employed by the fishermen 
of our Lord's time was extremely simple, consist- 
ing, in most eases, of a small casting net, thrown 
and drawn by the hand. They had no seine whose 
vast length could sweep the abysses, and drag forth 
their finny inhabitants : aud were, therefore, com- 
pelled to pursue their calling near the shore, and in 
waters comparatively shallow. Of this Peter was 
fully aware. Born and reared on the borders of the 
lake, and skilled by long practice in the secrets of 
his craft, he was familiar with all the localities 
deemed most favorable to its prosecution, and knew 
well that in the soundless depths over which his 
vessel was then gliding no fisher had ever dreamed 
of casting a net. Nevertheless, so complete was his 
trust in the supernatural guidance under which he 
acted, that he rowed on without question till he 
reached the ground indicated by his Master, and, in 
a spirit of childlike obedience, let down his net 
where net had never gone before. 

Meanwhile, He who is Sovereign of the waters 
and of the dry land, had been providing for the 
result which He contemplated. The miracle which 
He wrought on this occasion was not one of creative 
power. His omnipotence did not at that instant 
bring into being the fish necessary to His purpose. 
They were already existing in the lake ; and His 
Divine authority was manifested in collecting them 
32 



374 BIBLE PICTURES. 

at the requisite place, and thus rendering uncon- 
scious creatures subservient to His will. " The sea 
is His, and He made it." He has dominion over all 
its tribes ; and in their ceaseless movements to and 
fro, they but obey the laws which He appoints. 
Yet, while there is here no suspension of the regular 
operations of nature — no entrance upon her domain 
of a new and unwonted agency — the occurrence is 
lifted into the region of the supernatural by the all- 
directing Hand which caused these operations to 
fall in with the specific word and design of Christ. 
The denizens of the deep roam through its territo- 
ries as their instinct prompts them. But now there 
is put into that instinct a divine impulse which 
draws them to the point where their Maker needs 
them. That impulse they all follow, certainly, though 
involuntarily. None can escape it, none resist it. 
Here is a mighty carp, there a giant pike, and 
yonder a stupendous bass, that have long flourished 
in their secret haunts, secure from baited hook and 
meshy snare ; yet at the behest of Christ they must 
come forth. From coral caves, from rocky clefts, 
from mossy beds, from submarine bowers, from all 
parts of the watery realm, heaven-led, they troop, 
in countless schools, straight for the spot where 
Peter's net is to go down. 

The disciple, having thrown out his net in obe- 
dience to the command of the Lord, and seen it 



DEEP FISHING. 375 

quietly sink in the clear waves beneath, waits the 
accustomed time, and then attempts to draw it. 
But he is amazed to find in it an enormous weight 
that defies all his strength. He turns to Andrew 
for help ; yet their combined exertions can only 
raise it far enough to enable them to see that it is 
completely full, and strained to its utmost tension. 
And here a new difficulty meets them. Their 
tackle is fitted only for small fry and shoal fishing ; 
and the immense number and size of the captives 
now enclosed, and their fierce struggles to get free, 
threaten to burst the frail meshes, and rend the 
entire fabric in pieces. In this dilemma, they sig- 
nal their partners, James and John, who are at 
some distance in the other boat, to hasten to then- 
aid. The two boats are brought together, and their 
united crews take hold of the net. Still, they dare 
not lift it out of the water, lest it should break with 
its wondrous burden ; but are constrained to trans- 
fer the fish from the net to the boats. Even these 
are so overloaded as to be in peril of sinking, and 
are kept afloat only by the most careful handling. 

The miraculous spoil is at last safely landed ; and 
the disciples, as they gaze upon it, filled with aston- 
ishment by an event so unexampled in their expe- 
rience, rise to a higher conception of the power and 
glory of their Master. But this feeling develops 
itself most strongly in the mind of Peter, and finds 



37G BIBLE PICTURE S. 

in his impulsive mood the most ardent expression. 
Overwhelmed by a sense of the greatness of Christ, 
he falls at His feet, exclaiming, "Depart from me, 
O Lord, for I am a sinful man." Whenever Divine 
might and holiness are revealed to- the soul, they 
awaken in it a deep consciousness of its own vile- 
ness, and of the infinite moral distance between it 
and the All-perfect One with whom it is brought 
into contact. Awe-struck and guilt-smitten, it 
shrinks back from the dazzling radiance, and cries 
out with the convicted patriarch, "I have heard of 
Thee by the hearing of the car ; but now mine eye 
seeth Thee ; wherefore I abhor myself, and repent 
in dust and ashes." The merciful Redeemer dispels 
the fear of his trembling servant, and assures him 
that the manifestation of omnipotence which he had 
beheld was intended, not to appall and terrify, but 
to point out to him a nobler function, a grander life- 
work, than his present pursuit ; that as he had cast 
his net into the untried deep of the sea, so he should 
hereafter cast the net of Salvation into the 4 black 
deeps of Humanity ; and that the same sovereign 
Will, which led the finny host to the one, would 
gather unnumbered souls to the other. 

Our Lord's own Language, therefore, authorizes 
us to regard this display of His Divinity, not merely 
as a suggestive prelude to the ealling of the Apos- 
tles, but as a symbolic adumbration of the future 



DEEP FISHING. 377 

triumphs of His Gospel, and a pregnant showing 
forth of the manner in which that Gospel is to be 
carried into the dark places of our outcast world. 
Viewed in this aspect, how significant and impres- 
sive are the lessons which it conveys ! 

The voice of the risen Christ has assigned to His 
people the high province of making known His 
redemption to all the families of men. But in ful- 
filling this sacred vocation, they have too often fol- 
lowed a course analogous to that pursued by the 
disciples in their secular employment, before the 
Lord taught them a better method. Like the fish- 
ers of Gennesareth, they have been content to ply 
the net of the Gospel along the shores, and in the 
most accessible and promising positions, leaving 
untouched the vast ocean of darkness and guilt that 
lay beyond their soundings. This defect, visible in 
all the ages since the Apostolic, strikingly charac- 
terizes the evangelism of our own day. We forget 
not the inroads which modern Christianity has made 
on the domains of Heathendom, nor the numerous 
and mighty movements that have been organized to 
spread the light of Life throughout the empire of 
the Shadow of Death. We recognize progress in 
this direction, and hail it as the crowning glory of 
the era in which we live. Nevertheless, we affirm 
that in lands where the Gospel has long been 
planted, where its institutions have taken root, 

32* 



378 BIBLE PICTURES. 

where its influence permeates society, where Sab- 
baths and Bibles and sanctuaries and sermons are 
familiar things, there is a fatal want of religious 
enterprise, of aggressiveness, of breaking forth from 
prescriptive bounds, and bringing the enginery of 
God's Word to bear on the neglected multitudes all 
around us, whom no appliances of Mercy ever reach. 
"We throw the net where we have always thrown 
it — in the church, in the Sunday School, in the 
congregation, in the parish — and know not or heed 
not the fact that, just outside of our wonted beats, 
are fathomless gulfs — dread volcanic chasms — 
where, down, down in the very bowels of sin and 
degradation, unsought millions grope in their blind- 
ness, with only a thin crust between them and a 
burning Hell. And the dwellers in these abysses — 
the votaries of irreligion, of infidelity, of godless- 
ness — are constantly increasing. Amidst all the 
working of Christian ordinances, and all the out- 
goings of Christian labor, the numbers who scorn 
Jehovah, repudiate His worship, and shut them- 
selves away from all the uplifting agencies of the 
Gospel, are becoming greater and more unapproach- 
able from year to year. Here, then, is the fishing 
ground to which the Saviour calls us. Over this 
sea of unexplored vice and woe sounds the sum- 
mons, as once it sounded over the Lake of Galilee, 



DEEP FISHING. 379 

"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets 
for a draught." 

What are the requisites for such an undertaking? 
In what attitude must the Church of the Eedeenier 
place herself in order to fulfil the mandate of her 
King; ? And what are the conditions under which 
she may expect the coming forth of His power to 
give success to her endeavors ? 

There is needed for this work a more entire con- 
secration to the cause of Christ, and the recovery 
of the lost. Peter gave up his boat, his time, and 
himself to the service of his Lord. Had he refused 
to do this — had he urged the plea which so many 
urge, that the claims of his business and of his 
family forbade the. surrender — there is no reason to 
suppose that any miraculous energy would have 
intervened in his behalf. Self-sacrifice was a neces- 
sary preparative for the blessing which he received. 
And the absence of a similar spirit in the great body 
of those who now bear the Saviour's name, is one 
of the chief obstacles to the conversion of the God- 
despising masses. To pour the beams of Truth 
upon these abodes of ignorance — to distribute the 
waters of Mercy through these uncultured wastes — 
is an enterprise requiring means, time, labor — 
means in large supply, the time, the labor of myriad 
thinkers and myriad workers. Yet how few can be 
found, among the millions enrolled in the sacra- 



380 BIBLE PICTURES. 

mental host, who ever give a dollar, an hour, a 
thought, to the enlightenment of the darkling wan- 
derers that surround them on every side ! Satisfied 
with having received the Gospel themselves, and 
limiting their obligations to the scanty support of 
its public ministries, the vast majority of professing 
Christians devote their energies to secular affairs, 
and put forth no personal endeavors for the rescue 
of the perishing. The illumination of the wide 
expanse of moral night is thus left to a few pulpits, 
shining feebly out here and there amid the gloom, 
like dim beacons scattered at distant intervals over 
a fosf-shrouded and storm-lashed ocean. In the 
momentous crisis which is now upon the Church, all 
her resources, all the strength of all her children, 
whatever they have of wealth, of talent, of opportu- 
nit}> r , of spiritual power, must be brought into requi- 
sition, not only to extend her boundaries, but to 
prevent the encompassing ungodliness from hem- 
ming her in, and swallowing her up. The wilder- 
ness is encroaching on the cultivated land. The 
sands of desolation are sweeping over broad heri- 
tages, where once echoed the shout of the plough- 
man and the song of the reapers. 

Citizens of Zion ! what mean ye ? Awake ! 
Awake from your security ! Awake from your sel- 
fishness ! Awake from your worldly engrossments ! 
Awake from your visions of affluence and case ! 



DEEP FISHING. 381 

Awake to the great emergency ! Awake to the 
claims of Christ, and the wants of the Christ-neglect- 
ing multitudes among whom you dwell ! Dedicate 
anew body and mind, heart and soul, interest and 
sympathy — all that you are and all that you pos- 
sess — to the gathering in of "them that are with- 
out." And when thus you obey the Lord that 
bought you by yielding yourselves wholly to His 
use, His redeeming word will go forth over the 
deeps, and the net of His Grace be filled with the 
saved. 

The people of God need to be animated by a live- 
lier concern for the destitute. Until a deeper sense 
of their necessities prevails among Christians, we 
cannot hope that any adequate provision will be 
made to meet them. We all feel too little the un- 
happy condition of those who are living without 
God in the world. We feel it so little because we 
realize it so little ; and we realize it so little because 
we observe and ponder it so little. Sheltered in our 
spiritual homes, environed by privileges, feasting 
on heavenly bread, rejoicing in the communion of 
the faithful, and in the promise of life eternal, we 
form but faint ideas of the peril and the woe over- 
hanging the profane crowds that dwell apart from 
the mercies of the Gospel. We know them ; but 
the knowledge does not impress us. It does not 
arrest our consciousness with such vivid truth and 



382 BIBLE PICTURES. 

force as to rouse us from inaction. To get such a 
conception, we must pass beyond the circle of Chris- 
tian intercourse, and look out upon the bleak world 
of the godless; visit the haunts of intemperance, 
the resorts of the profligate, the dens of the vile ; 
and see with our own eyes how the soul is de- 
stroyed, and heaven cast away. Then shall we 
obtain a view of the guilt and ruin of unevangelized 
men, that will impel us to seek their redemption 
with a vigor and earnestness of purpose to which 
we have hitherto been strangers. 

A man of opulence and leisure is seated in his 
sumptuous mansion in the heart of a great city. It 
is a winter night ; but the chill tempest that roars 
without, enters not there. Around him are all the 
comforts and elegances which wealth can supply. 
Soft couches are there, and splendid rooms, and 
costly furniture. And pictures are there, and 
books, and music, and cheerful warmth, and bril- 
liant lights, and happy faces. He knows there is 
want in the city, and sorrow in the city — ragged 
ones, houseless ones, shivering with cold — cham- 
bers of sickness that have no light or fire — low, 
damp cellars on which the sun never shines — 
abodes of filth and misery where Hunger and Fever 
walk hand in hand. All this he knows. Yet he 
thinks not of it. It stirs no pit}' in his soul, calls 
forth no active benevolence. But let him go out 



DEEP FISHING. 383 

into the dark streets and the pelting storm. Let 
him meet poverty and suffering face to face. Let 
him look at the naked wretches huddling in corners ; 
at the starving child holding out its lean hand for 
alms ; at the pale mother in yonder garret clasping 
her dying babe to her breast, and trying in vain to 
shield it with her tattered garments. Let him thus 
see famine and destitution as they are, and if there 
be a heart in his bosom, he will feel, he must feel. 
None but a Dives come back from hell could turn 
away without emotion from scenes like these. 

There is pestilence in a far off land. It is sweep- 
ing thousands into untimely graves. The young, 
the strong, the beautiful, fall before it like grass 
before the mower. We read of it, we talk about it, 
we know it. But it is distant. It is not in our 
sphere. It touches no home joy; brings no per- 
sonal bereavement ; and the impression produced 
by it is vague, unexciting. Let us visit that land ; 
trace the footsteps of the destroyer ; mark the 
gloom and the terror which proclaim his presence ; 
hear the trundle of the death-cart as it goes round 
from house to house ; count the hecatombs of the 
dead ; note the fresh mounds in every churchyard, 
the mourners in every street, the dismay and 
anguish in every countenance — and what new per- 
ceptions of the might and fearfulness of the scourge 
will spring up within us. 



384 BIBLE PICTURES. 

A wreck is on the shore. Dismasted by the gale, 
with sails gone and bulwarks stove in, a tall ship, 
full of passengers, is straggling among the breakers. 
The signal guns come booming inland over the hills 
to the peaceful valley in which you reside. You 
hear them — you know that a vessel is in distress — 
that human beings are in danger of becoming a prey 
to the yawning billows. Yet you do nothing to 
help. The calamity is out of sight. There is a 
little conversation — some questioning, some won- 
der — and then you resume your avocations as 
quietly as if treacherous oceans and stranding ships 
had no existence. Drop your implements of labor. 
Hurry to the coast. Look at that gallant crew, 
those shrieking women and children, exposed to the 
fury of the waves. See the mad surges breaking 
over them ! Leap into the life-boat that is going to 
their rescue — brave death to save others from 
death — and all that is in you of manhood, of noble 
daring, of godlike compassion, will glow out in 
energetic deeds. 

So, it is by going forth to seek the lost, by fol- 
lowing them into all their retreats, by throwing our- 
selves into the depths where they hide, that we shall 
be most effectually incited to toil for their salvation. 
A sense of their undone state, awakened in us by 
actual sight, will be a far more powerful incentive 
than any inert theory respecting it. We comprehend 



DEEP FISHING. 385 

most clearly, and deplore roost sincerely, the evils 
which lie under our own observation, and for whose 
removal we personally strive. And if we would 
commiserate sinners, we must go among sinners ; 
study their condition ; take the measure of their 
depravity ; and bring home to our consciousness 
the awful jeopardy in which they stand. Thus, 
rowing out into the deep, we shall be prepared to 
let down the net into the deep. 

The work of gathering in the outcasts demands a 
bolder faith than the followers of Christ commonly 
exercise. The opinion is very generally entertained 
by religious men, that they who voluntarily estrange 
themselves from the house of God, and abjure its 
hallowed solemnities, cannot be reached by any ap- 
pointed means ; and that, consequently, their con- 
version, though possible, is scarcely to be expected. 
Especially does this impression prevail in reference 
to the countless numbers that not only stand aloof 
from the instrumentalities of grace, but have become 
the pronounced thralls of unbelief and profligacy. 
The spiritual fisherman is too apt to imagine that to 
cast the net in such waters is well-nigh hopeless ; 
that the Gospel has no apparatus which can go 
down into this abysmal profound, and draw up its 
sunken tenants to the light of day ; and that, there- 
fore, his labor may be more usefully expended at 
points of readier approach, and on subjects of easier 
83 



BIBLE PICTFJ.r^. 

capture. Judging from ordinary principles, and 
by the recognized laws of moral probability, there 
would seem to be much less likelihood of boo 
in dealing with the ignorant, with skeptics, and 
with the openly immoral, than with those who have 
been instructed in the truths of Christianity, and are 
accustomed to au outward attendance on its minis- 
trations. And so. at another time, might Peter 
have found better ti>himr near the shore than out in 
the deej). It was the word of Christ which drew 
him from his old familiar ground to the strange and 
difficult one which his Lord had chosen. And it 
- the power of Christ, rewarding his confidence, 
that brought the marvellous draught to his net. 
The believers of to-day have the same word of 
Christ, commanding them to "launch out into the 
>:" and they need only Peter's brave faith to 
insure the presence of the same power. Our glori- 
lit d King wields the same authority over the d< 
of the moral world, which He wielded over the d< 
of G nth. As the denizens < f the one came 

flocking at His behest to the net of Simon : so will 
Hie all-compelling grace draw the benighted dwell- 
in th<- other to the net of the Gospel. His 
ii cleanse the foulest, Hi- Spirit can subdue 
the stoutest; and in all the ranks of the ungodly 
b i- ii' ' d by -in. so steeped in 

pollution, BO l"-t to hope and heaven, that the Al- 



DEEP FISHING. 387 

mighty Renovator cannot redeem and purify hirn. 
The most hardened, the most besotted, the farthest 
gone from all that is good and true, may be par- 
doned and saved by atoning Mercy. Our work in 
the deep, then, is not vain, not impracticable. It 
is full of promise, full of inspiring assurances of 
Divine aid and blessing. Relying on help from 
above, and strong in the might which God ever 
gives to them that obey Him, we may let down the 
net into the blackest sea of iniquity without fear of 
failure. The voice of Jesus, more potent than 
Orphean lyre, will collect around it the wild beasts 
of the slums, transformed and humanized by the 
charm of His love. "All things are possible to him 
that belie veth." The faith that dares is omnipo- 
tent. Clasping the Hand that rules all hearts — 
leaning on the Spirit of Power — with Prayer on 
its lips, and Hope in its eye — it is invincible, re- 
sistless. In religion, as in the world, the bold con- 
quer. Let this intrepid courage, this dauntless 
confidence, pervade the Church of Christ, and what 
abundant trophies^ won from the deeps, will she lay 
at the feet of her Lord ! 

In this sphere of evangelic effort, there is a special 
call for lay workers. The fish in these waters are 
very shy ; they do not mean to be caught ; and he 
who would approach them must wear no fisherman's 
garb, and show no fisherman's gear. They are 



388 BIBLE PICTURES. 

afraid of the Gospel ; they hate the Gospel ; they 
wish to shun all contact with the Gospel. Let its 
official teachers go among them, and the} 7 suspect 
the net at once, and refuse to come nigh it. But 
the advances of private Christians are not generally 
met by any such repulsion. Clothed with no pro- 
fessional functions, with nothing in look or tone or 
manner to betray his object, the layman has here 
peculiar advantages over the minister; and will 
often find access and sympathy where the minister 
could not. And if the irreligious masses are ever 
to be won to Christ and salvation, the result must 
be largely accomplished by laymen. Theirs arc the 
circumstances, theirs the numberless tongues and 
hands and feet, which best qualify them to attempt 
it. And if the pitying love that led the Redeemer 
from the bosom of the Father and the thrones of 
bliss to the manger and the cross,' could once fill 
and stir their hearts, loosening those tongues, un- 
locking those hands, setting those feet in motion, 
how soon would the beams of light and life shine 
upon all the abodes of the alien ! 

In an undertaking so great, a union of labor — - 
the co-operation of every class and division of God's 
people — is imperatively demanded. Simon and 
Andrew, finding their own strength insufficient to 
secure the prize which Heaven had sent them, 
called to James and John for assistance. Had the 



DEEP FISHING. 389 

■*> 

latter disregarded the summons, the net and its 
precious freight would alike have been lost. So, in 
drawing up the godless myriads from their debase- 
ment and ruin, the whole Christian Partnership 
must combine its energies. In other branches of 
religious effort, we may pursue our work sepa- 
rately, each occupying his own ground, and caring 
for his own portion of the spoil. But in this deep 
fishing, the boats must come together. Every 
member of every church, and every church of every 
name, must take part in the mighty task of lifting 
these submerged immortals from the floods into the 
Ark of the Gospel. All the disciples of Jesus, 
whatever station they fill, to whatever boat they be- 
long, are needed here. There is verge and scope 
for every variety of talent, every diversity of oper- 
ation, and weight enough to strain to the utmost the 
united power of all. And it is only when each is in 
his place, grasping the net with the whole force of 
his regenerate nature, that its vast burden will ap- 
pear above the waves, and be hailed by the rejoi- 
cings of earth and heaven. 

We may illustrate the importance of this union 
of effort in evangelizing the destitute, by a glance 
at the manner in which our cities are supplied with 
water. There is the distant river, or mountain 
lake, which furnishes the supply. There is the 
aqueduct which conveys it to the city. There are 

33* 



390 • BIBLE PICTURES. 

the reservoirs which receive it, the mains which 
carry it through every street, and the connecting 
pipes that distribute it to every dwelling. In this 
series of mechanical agencies, the several parts 
are indissolubly allied and inter-dependent ; and a 
defect in one frustrates the purpose of all. If the 
source fail, if the aqueduct is broken, if the reser- 
voirs are suffered to crumble and decay, if the mains 
become obstructed, if the service-pipes arc cut off, 
or have never been laid — the result is the same — 
there is no water for the inhabitants. Now, in the 
system of spiritual activities, which God has pro- 
vided for the salvation of men, we may trace a sim- 
ilar alliance and inter-dependence — a similar chain 
of co-operating forces working to one design. From 
its birthplace among the Celestial Hills, deep in the 
heart of the universal Father, the Water of Life 
gushes down to our world. The Word of Inspired 
Truth is the aqueduct which brings it to us. Our 
Sanctuaries and Pulpits are the reservoirs which 
collect and treasure it. The Church, the Sunday 
School, the various methods of public instruction 
and influence, are the mains intended to dispense it 
along the highways and thoroughfares of society ; 
while the labors of individual Christians are the 
service-pipes to carry it into every home, and into 
every lane and alley of guilt and wretchedness. 
Our Fountain-IIcad cannot fail. Our aqueduct 



BEEP FISHING. 391 

cannot be broken, for it is built of living rock on 
the Rock of Ages. But the reservoirs may be de- 
molished, neglected, or rendered worse than useless 
by impurities ; the mains may be choked up by 
selfishness and inactivity; and the service-pipes, 
through indolence or carelessness, may cease to fulfil 
their office. Whichever of these contingencies be- 
falls, the order of the Gospel is disturbed, and its 
outflow interrupted. There is water — water broad 
and deep and full as the sea — water adequate to 
the wants of a world ; yet it reaches no parched 
lip, refreshes no thirsty soul, purifies no scene of 
corruption. But let God's beautiful arrangement 
be preserved perfect in all its links ; let the reser- 
voirs and mains and service-pipes be kept in harmo- 
nious and vigorous play ; and the blessed supply 
will be diffused in ceaseless streams, ample as men's 
needs, numerous as their habitations. 

With whatever preparations and appliances we 
may launch out into the deep, we shall achieve 
nothing, unless we take Christ with us in the boat. 
This age of strange anomalies has seen no stranger 
spectacle than the unnatural affiliation of skepticism 
with philanthropy. Schemes have been devised, 
processes have been set on foot, for the uplifting of 
the fallen, which leave Jesus on the shore — thrust 
Him altogether out of sight — or, while admitting 
His nominal presence, take away His Godhead, His 



392 BIBLE PICTURES. 

vicarious expiation, His renewing Spirit ; all, in 
short, that imparts to His character and office any 
vital, restoring efficacy. Such humanitarian fishers 
toil in vain. They may throw out the net of Reform, 
and sweep the deeps with their fine-spun theories 
of culture, and education, and benevolence — of 
man's natural goodness and inherent capacity for 
improvement ; but the fish will remain at the bot- 
tom ; or, should any appear to be taken, they will 
break through the gossamer meshes, and plunge 
back into their former darkness. The Cross of 
Christ is the only talisman that can call up a sinful 
soul from the abyss. His voice alone can dissolve 
the enchantments of carnality, and dispel the death- 
like slumber of transgression. His truth alone can 
illumine ; His love alone can subdue and melt ; His 
atoning work alone can deliver ; His Spirit alone 
can transform and sanctify. Christ in the boat ! 
Christ in the boat ! Here is the secret of power, 
the pledge of success. Bearing Him with her 
wherever she goes, proclaiming His Sacrifice, in- 
voking His Grace, let the Church redeemed by 
His blood, hearkening to His command, launch 
out into the deep, and the net will come home 
bursting with salvation. 




CHAPTER XIX. 

YAEST QUESTIONS. 
"What is that to thee? Pollow thou me."— John xxi. 22. 

UGH was the rebuke which our Lord ad- 
dressed to Peter for neglecting his own 

duty while inopportunely concerning him- 
self about the duty of another. The Sav- 
iour had commanded the Apostle to follow 
Him. The Apostle, having risen up to obey, 
turned round and saw John also following : and 
being the same impulsive and variable creature that 
he had ever been, his curiosity was at once excited, 
and his thoughts diverted from the service required 
of himself to the question of what should be the 
course of John, and what particular part Christ had 
assigned him to perform. Hence, instead of going 
forward directly in his own work, he stood still, 
and asked, "Lord, what shall this man do"?'" 

To this unseasonable inquiry Christ's words are 
the answer. It is as if He had said — " Your ques- 
tion is entirely irrelevant. TVhat John shall do has 
i. 

no connection with your responsibility. Your duty 
is personal, present, imperative, and independent 

303 



394 BIBLE PICTURES. 

of the state and conduct of all others. I have com- 
manded you to follow me. It is yours to obey, 
directly, unhesitatingly, and for yourself, without 
being influenced by what those around you may do, 
or may not do." 

Such was the scope of the declaration as it was 
originally spoken. But apart from this special ap- 
plication, it contains a general truth of great and 
vital importance. It teaches us that our obligation 
to obey and serve Christ is individual, immediate, 
and unchanged by any obstacles that may arise from 
the deportment of others, or from the delusions of 
our own minds. 

Many there arc who, when urged to follow Christ 
by embracing His salvation, and devoting their 
hearts and lives to His cause, allow themselves to 
be deterred by some inquiry foreign to their duty, 
or by some real or imaginary difficulty with which 
they have no practical concern. Such may be 
found, in great numbers, both among those who 
profess to be religious, and among those who have 
never submitted to the claims of the Redeemer. To 
each of these classes the pregnant reply of our Lord 
conveys a most appropriate admonition. For the 
sake of brevity, however, I shall leave the former 
wholly out of view, and confine myself exclusively 
to the latter. It is my wish to address those uncon- 
verted persons who refuse to comply with the over- 



VAIN QUESTIONS. 395 

tures of the Gospel, until every extraneous question, 
which they can ask, is settled, and every fancied 
impediment, which they can conjecture, removed 
out of their way. 

The first class which I shall mention, as coming 
under this description, consists of those who hesitate 
to yield themselves to Christ, because they cannot 
understand all that the Bible contains. 

It admits not of question that there are in the 
Scriptures some " things hard to be understood " — 
deep and inscrutable problems, which no human 
intellect can solve. This results necessarily from 
the weakness of our faculties, and the infinite nature 
of the subjects of which Revelation treats. It is to 
be expected that our feeble reason, which meets a 
thousand enigmas even in the affairs of this life, 
should find itself baffled and confounded, whenever 
it attempts to grasp the mighty secrets of eternity. 
But "what is that to thee ? " These mysteries belong- 
only to the field of speculative truth — to those 
recondite matters of the celestial world, which are 
wholly dissevered from thy present wants and du- 
ties. All that is practical ; all that relates to the 
condition of man as a sinner — to the method of his 
recovery by the atoning death and justifying right- 
eousness of Christ — and to the obligations which 
press upon him in these circumstances — is entirely 
plain and simple. How irrational is it for men to 



396 BIBLE PICTURES. 

reject blessings of which they have a conscious 
need, and to disregard commands which they know 
and can comprehend, because there may be other 
points connected with them which their limited 
powers cannot fully explore ! You would ridicule 
the folly of him who should refuse necessary food 
until he could trace out all the hidden processes of 
digestion and nutrition. Not less absurd are you 
in refusing to become religious because you cannot 
unravel all the mysteries of religion. There is no 
difficulty in anything that is essential to your salva- 
tion. You know, both from the Bible and from 
your own consciousness, that you arc guilty and 
condemned ; that you have broken the Divine Law, 
and are liable to eternal death. This you can 
understand. You know that God, though just and 
holy, is full of mercy to the children of men ; and 
that He has given His Only Begotten Son to be 
their Redeemer, and to open by His obedience and 
sufferings a way for their deliverance. This you 
can understand. You know too — for the Gospel 
emphatically proclaims it — that if you repent and 
believe in Christ, you shall be pardoned and saved. 
This you can understand. Then do it. Go at once 
to the Saviour, and commit your everlasting inter- 
ests to His hands. This you can do, and this is 
all you need do. Whatever obscurity may appear 
to your dim vision to hang over the higher realms 



VAIN QUESTIONS. 397 

of Truth, the fact of salvation by faith in Christ 
is clear and intelligible to the weakest capacity. 
There is here no darkness, no mystery. All is dis- 
tinct and palpable as the day. What madness, 
then, is it to turn away from the gracious offers of 
the Gospel — from the plain duties that are vital to 
your happiness — because the scheme of Redemp- 
tion, which propounds those offers and prescribes 
those duties, may involve other topics too vast for 
your comprehension ! 

An emigrant is journeying across the Great Amer- 
ican Desert to the Laud of Gold, and the Clime of 
the Sun. He is perishing with thirst. The scanty 
supply of water which he took with him has long 
been exhausted ; and for many weary miles no 
spring or brook, and not even a stagnant pool, left 
from the winter snows, has met his eye. Nothing 
is visible wherever he looks but the blazing sky 
above, and the hot, arid waste around, brown with 
drought, or white with drifting salt. With stagger- 
ing limbs, and parched lips, and swollen tongue, 
and brain on fire, he drags himself forward, battling 
with death ; yet feeling that he must soon give over 
the struggle. At length, just as he is about to 
abandon all further effort, and lie down in despair 
to die, his ear, rendered acute by suffering, catches 
the low, faint murmur of a distant stream. Hope 
and the love of life revive at the sound ; and with 
3-t 



398 BIBLE PICTURES. 

all his remaining strength he hurries toward it. As 
he comes near, he sees a spring of water gushing 
out cool and clear from the side of a rocky bluff, 
splashing and sparkling in its little basin, and glid- 
ing away in a gurgling rill. But just as he is on 
the point of putting his lips to it, and quenching his 
thirst with full draughts, he stops, and saj^s to him- 
self, " Whence does this water come ? Is it from 
rain falling on the mountain-top, percolating down 
through the fissures in the rocks, and bubbling out 
in the stream which I see ? Or does its birthplace 
lie in some secret fountain deep in the heart of the 
earth ? I do not know, and I will not drink of it 
till I do knoAV." And so he turns away, to encoun- 
ter again the horrors of the dry and burning desert. 
Do you tell me that fatuity so monstrous is impos- 
sible ? In relation to the supply of bodily wants it 
may be, but not in relation to the needs of the soul.. 
Your own conduct is the strict moral parallel of the 
case I have supposed. You are in peril of dying 
from spiritual thirst. The necessities of your im- 
mortal nature cannot be met by anything within 
yourself, or in the world around you. But God 
has opened a fountain. Christ has said, "If any 
man thirst, let him come to Me and drink." The 
Waters of Salvation, welling forth from the Mercy 
Seat above, have descended in copious floods to 
refresh and bless the earth. And will you refuse to 



VAIN QUESTIONS. 399 

drink of the Eiver of Life which flows full and free 
before you, proffering health and gladness to your 
famished soul, because you cannot discover every- 
thing pertaining to its Source far, far away in the 
recesses of the Eternal Mind ? 

In one of those financial convulsions which so 
often sweep over the land, you have lost your all. 
Property and occupation are alike gone. The 
hoardings of former years are spent ; and you 
have borrowed, and borrowed, till you have not a 
neighbor or acquaintance who would not go a mile 
out of his way to avoid you. Dig you cannot, for 
there are none to hire you. To beg is useless, for 
there are none to give you. For days, weeks, you 
have scarcely tasted wholesome food, and famine, 
gaunt and inexorable, stares you in the face. In 
this hour of your utmost need, an old friend, your 
father's friend, and your own friend in better times, 
meets you, and, looking pitifully into your dim eye, 
and at your haggard cheek, lays his hand on your 
shoulder, and says, "Come home with me to din- 
ner." You go with him to a splendid mansion. 
You enter a large and richly-furnished dining hall. 
You see before you a long table loaded with food in 
every variety, from the plainest to the most luxuri- 
ous. At the lower end where you stand, the dishes 
are all simple, nutritious, solid, precisely such as 
your famishing state demands. And every dish is 



400 BIBLE PICTURES. 

open, showing its contents at a glance. But further 
on towards the head of the board there are dishes 
of a more complicated character, reserved for a 
later stage of the feast ; and these are covered, 
some with covers of tin, some with covers of silver, 
and some with covers of gold. Your host bids you 
welcome, and presses 3-011 most affectionately to 
sit down at once, and satisfy your hunger. But, 
instead of thankfully accepting his offer, you look 
along the table, and ask, "What is under those 
covers yonder?" Your friend replies, that those 
dishes are not suited to your present necessities ; 
that they belong to the dessert ; and that when you 
get to them, he will take the covers off. And 
again he urges you to partake of his bounty. But 
you draw yourself up haughtily, wrap your ragged 
garments about you, and exclaiming, "I'll not sit 
down to a table of mysteries," walk out into the 
cold, dark street, amid the howling storm, alone 
with your pride and your starvation. 

Let me impress this point by yet another illustra- 
tion. A man falls into a deep well in the cellar of 
a lofty building, and, without help, must inevitably 
be drowned. From the ceiling above a rope is let 
down to him through the hatchway, and friendly 
voices call to him to seize hold of it, while strong 
arms are ready to draw him out. But instead of 
doing this, he complains that he cannot sec the 



VAIN QUESTIONS. 401 

upper end of the rope, and does not know how it is 
secured. Those who are trying to rescue him tell 
him not to trouble himself about the upper end ; 
they will take care of that ; they have it fast to a 
beam in the roof; his business is to make sure of 
the lower end. Then he stops to ask, with what 
kind of a knot the rope is fastened, and what sort of 
timber the beam is made of to which it is attached. 
Thus, while neglecting the rope, he continues to 
cry, "How is it tied? how is it tied?" till the 
waters close over him, and his vain questions are 
smothered in death ! 

Do you say that such a man would be a fool? 
Take heed, dear reader, that thou be not a greater 
fool. Thou hast fallen into a well, a deep and 
loathsome well — "the horrible pit and miry clay" 
of impenitence and sin ; and thou art in danger 
every moment of sinking down, down forever into 
;f the bottomless pit" of hell beneath. God has 
flung out from heaven the golden cord, the three- 
fold cord, of the covenant of Mercy. He has made 
one end of it fast to the pillars of His throne, while 
the other reaches to thee ; and He bids thee lay 
hold of it, and He will draw thee up out of the 
slough of thy pollutions to the purity and bliss of 
His own presence. Dost thou answer, that the 
upper part of the cord is above thy sight, and that 
thou canst not perceive all the processes by which 

3±* 



402 BIBLE PICTURES. 

it has been secured? " What is that to thee?" 
Enough for thee to know that the rope is fast, that 
the rope is strong, able to bear thy weight, and that 
of millions like thee. O sinner ! grasp the rope — 
lay hold of it by faith — cling to it by prayer — 
and thou shalt mount up, as on angels' wjngs, to 
the Paradise of God ; and there, safe from the 
yawning abyss, thou mayest ponder through eter- 
nity the strength of the rope, and the infinite wis- 
dom displayed in the nrysteries of its adjustment. 

A second class refuse to repent and believe in 
Christ, because they do not know how they became 
sinners ; or, in other words, cannot comprehend 
the origin of moral evil. 

The entrance of sin into the world is indeed a 
question that has baffled the profoundest minds. 
God has not seen fit to answer it; and, therefore, it 
must remain, in the present state of our faculties, 
unexplained and inexplicable. That the Almighty 
could have prevented the fall of our first parents, 
and the consequent corruption and ruin entailed 
upon their posterity, we cannot doubt ; and the 
only reason we dare assign why He did not do it, 
is, that having resolved to govern the world by 
moral, not physical, force, in restraining men from 
sin by an act of absolute power, lie would have 
destroyed their free agency, and thus have sub- 
verted the whole system of administration which lie 



VAIN QUESTIONS. 403 

had established. He, therefore, deemed it best, on 
the whole, to suffer evil to exist, determined ulti- 
mately to overrule it for His owd glory, and the 
highest good of the universe. This conjecture, 
though probable, cannot claim to be an adequate 
solution; and human sagacity, after all its efforts, 
must leave the subject where it found it — among 
the incomprehensible things of Divine Sovereignty. 
But " What is that to thee?" You are a sinner, 
however you became so. This is the naked, actual 
fact with which you have to do. By nature and by 
practice you are the enemy of God, estranged from 
Him in heart and in life, and exposed to the penalty 
of that holy Liav which proclaims, "The soul that 
sinneth, it shall die.'' The disease is within you, 
preying upon your very vitals : and infinitely more 
important is it for you to know how it may be 
cured, than how it arose. And, blessed be God, 
there is no obscurity here. "The blood of Jesus 
Christ His Son clean seth from all sin." In the aton- 
ing Sacrifice offered on Calvary, a remedy has been 
provided for transgression : and whoever accepts 
that Sacrifice in contrition and faith, shall be puri- 
fied from guilt, and absolved from punishment. 
This remedy is offered, without money and without 
price, to all who are willing to receive it. No 
philosophy is needed to understand it : no science 
to apply it. Its only rnystery is this — Look and 



404 BIBLE PICTURES. 

live, believe and be saved. And will you neglect a 
provision so simple, so easy, so efficacious, because 
you cannot ascertain exact!}' in what manner you 
came to need it? That you do need it, is a great 
and fearful reality. Without it you are lost forever. 
Oh ! what infatuation, to stand still and dispute 
about the parentage of sin, while sin itself, actual 
sin, personal sin, wilful sin, sin multiplied into a- 
thousand forms and shapes of aggravation, is hurry- 
ing you down to the second death ! 

A city at midnight is roused by an alarm of fire. 
The bells ring out their startling summons. The 
engines thunder along the streets. A stately man- 
sion is burning. From roof, and gable, and case- 
ment, and balcony, the maddening flames leap forth, 
dyeing the heavens with blood, and shedding a lurid 
glare on the upturned faces of the crowds below. 
Soon it is whispered that in one of the highest 
chambers of the building there is a man asleep, and 
at the mercy of the conflagration. A thrill of horror 
goes through the multitude. What shall be done? 
The stairways and passages are all in a blaze. Every 
avenue of escape seems cut off. A bold fireman 
seizes a ladder, and places it against the window of 
the room occupied by the unconscious victim. Up, 
up he mounts through blinding smoke and rushing 
flame, for it is life that he goes to save. lie reaches 
the window — he dashes it in, and calls upon the 



VAIN QUESTIONS. 405 

sleeper to come forth and descend. But the heed- 
less inmate, instead of complying, raises himself on 
his elbow, rubs his eyes, and asks, how on earth the 
house came on fire! Fool, idiot, is the answer — 
no matter now how the house came on fire ; it is on 
fire; and you will be burned up if you wait to find 
out in what way the fire caught. Still he insists 
that he cannot go till he has satisfied himself 
whether the fire was communicated by accident or 
by design ; from a candle borne by some careless 
hand, or from the torch of the incendiary. And 
while he lingers in this bootless quest, roaming 
from room to room, over shaking floors, and beneath 
tottering rafters, the roof falls in, the walls collapse, 
and he is buried under the blazing ruins. 

O sinner ! such is thy conduct, and such will be 
thy fate, unless thou art wise in time. Thy house, 
the house of thy soul, is on fire. Xo matter whether 
man or devil kindled the flame — kindled it is, and 
is wrapping thy whole nature in its destroying em- 
brace. It has spread to every faculty and to every 
affection. Body, mind, and heart are alike per- 
vaded by it. It smolders in the workings of inward 
depravity. It blazes out in the lawlessness of open 
transgression. And this fire of sin, unless quenched 
by the blood of Christ, will soon become the fire of 
Judgment, the fire of God's wrath, the fire of hell, 
that shall burn forever. As yet, there is hope for 



406 BIBLE PICTURES. 

thee. The } f Mercy are flowin_ The 

Refuge of the Gospel stands open. Oh, flee before 
it be too late ! Escape for thy life — look not be- 
hind thee, lest thou be consumed. Stop not to 
how the fire originated. It will be time enough for 
such inquiries when the fire is put out. and thou 
hast reached the Sanctuary above, whither it can 
never come. 

Another class hold back from coming to any 
decision on the great matter of their salvation, be- 
cause there is such a diversity of religious opinions 
in the world. 

This is an excuse often urged. It is a very com- 
mon thing for unconverted persons, when exhorted 
to give heed to their spiritual welfare, to reply that 
they know not what to believe ; that amid the con- 
flict of sec ts and creeds, each asserting its own 
infallibility, and denouncing all others, it is inr 9- 
sible to tell which is right and which wrong ; and 
that, therefore, they deem it their urse to 

nd to their temporal infl and let religion 

alone altogether. 

But you seem to overlook the fact that the adop- 
tion of such a rule won! on off from having 
anything vith the affairs of th: lese 
than with those of the n* :i differ as fre- 
quently and as widely about secular mat* - - they 
do abov a. In politics, in law, in medicine, 



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view of the simplest pro position, or be foBy agreed 
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z z zi~tz;t1 iz 1 iizz z 7717 zzzziz :zzi 7 .z ;- 
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tie own personal standpoint — that the marre' 

- zzz zzz zizz i z : : zzz z_ 

ever agree. So that, if you are determined to have 
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rate the real dtvecaiU of religions sentiment which 
exists among those whose opinions are entitled to 
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408 BIBLE PICTURES. 

alike of present indulgence and of future safety 
leads them instinctively to dissent from whatever 
might seem to interrupt the one, or to endanger the 
other. And the forms of unbelief or of wrong be- 
lief which they embrace, will be as changeful and 
belligerent as the corrupt propensities from which 
they spring. The ungodly world is thus a vast 
caldron where all the ingredients of wickedness are 
seething together, and ever and anon sending up to 
the surface bubbles of falsehood of every shape and 
color. But anions those who have been enlight- 
enecl and sanctified by the Spirit of Grace, there is 
a substantial agreement on all the fundamental 
truths of Christianity. The} r may separate in out- 
ward things, in modes of organization, and forms 
of worship ; but in all that is intrinsically impor- 
tant, they are undivided. The vital teachings of 
the Bible with respect to the depravity of man, the 
atonement of Christ, the necessity of repentance and 
faith, the renewing influence of the Holy Spirit, the 
eternal happiness of the righteous, the eternal mis- 
ery of the wicked, are universally held by all real 
Christians throughout the world. And it has ever 
been so. The people of God, of all names, of all 
countries, of all ages, bear here one harmonious 
testimony. I listen to the voices of patriarchs and 
prophets coming down to me from the far off cen- 
turies; and what do I hear? "Salvation by the 



VAIN QUESTIONS. 409 

blood of a crucified Jesus." I listeu to the voices 
of apostles and evangelists, speaking to me from 
the pages of the New Testament ; and what do I 
hear? w Salvation by the blood of a crucified Jesus." 
I listen to the voices of the confessors and martyrs 
of the Reformation ; and what do I hear ? " Salva- 
tion by the blood of a crucified Jesus." I listen to 
the voices of all the pious in our own day, of every 
denomination, and in every land ; and I find them 
to be in perfect unison, proclaiming, without one 
discordant note, " Salvation by the blood of a cruci- 
fied Jesus." 

But supposing this were not the case ; supposing 
the differences of doctrinal belief among Christians 
were as numerous and as broad as you imagine 
them to be — "What is that to thee?" To your 
own Master you must stand or fall. The Saviour 
requires you to follow Him, to embrace His Gospel, 
and fulfil His laws, regardless of what the whole 
world beside may believe or do. His Word is your 
only guide. It marks out the path you are to take 
with such clearness and precision, that only they 
who wilfully shut their eyes can fail to see it. 
With such light to direct your steps, the uncer- 
tainty and confusion of human opinion can furnish 
you no excuse for indecision and delay. No — 
amid all the windings of error, the finger of Eter- 
nal Truth points ever straight onward to the Cross 

35 



410 BIBLE PICTURES. 

of Christ ; and high above all the Babel-tongues of 
delusion, crying, "Lo! here, and lo ! there" — its 
voice is heard, saying, " This is the way, walk ye in 
it." Oh, when you stand at the Judgment seat, 
and the Bible, which you now neglect, shall follow 
you there as an accusing witness, think 3-011 the 
plea that you knew not what to believe will avail 
you ? Make not now a defence which you will not 
dare to make then ; but, taking the Book of God 
into thy hands, with lowly prayer for the Spirit's 
teaching, examine for thyself, decide for thyself, 
and thou shalt find rest to thy soul. 

The last class which I shall notice justify their 
indifference to religion, by the alleged inconsistency 
and unfaithfulness of its professors. 

Not seldom is the assumption put forth, that the 
avowed disciples of Christ differ in nothing from 
the mass of the ungodly around them ; and hence, 
that religion is but a sham, and its votaries fanatics 
or hypocrites. To this we reply that the charge, in 
the extent in which it is made, is utterly untrue. 
Doubtless corrupt members may be found in the 
Church of God — men whose hearts have never 
been renewed, and who wear the mask of piety as a 
screen to the wickedness of their lives. This is to 
be expected ; for in this fallen world no vigilance 
can guard even the most sacred retreats from the 
intrusion of the unworthy. We also acknowledge 



VAIN QUESTIONS. 411 

with saclDess, that the standard of Christian practice 
is nowhere as elevated as the Gospel demands ; that 
many, whose sincerity cannot be questioned, often 
wander from the right way, or follow it with slug- 
gish step ; while all are more or less subject to 
frailty — frailty which they themselves are soonest 
to perceive and confess. Alas ! perfect holiness 
dwells not now in our sin-blighted sphere. But, 
with all these deductions, we claim that Christians 
are "the salt of the earth." Though not as good as 
they ought to be, they are incomparably better than 
anybody else. In integrity, in deference to con- 
science, iu purity of motive, in uprightness of life, 
in philanthropic deeds, they are raised far above the 
profane crowd that reproaches and vilifies them. 
And this is one of the reasons why wrong-doing, 
when it does appear among them, is so marked. 
With the irreligious, wrong-doing is the rule, and 
is too common to be noticed ; with the pious, it is 
the exception, and is on that account the more 
gazed at. No one heeds the smut on a collier's 
frock ; but a stain on the white robe of beauty 
attracts every eye. 

Oh,, it is a slander, fabricated by Satan, "the 
Accuser of the brethren," that Christians are not 
better than other men ! As a body, they are the 
best men the world has ever seen ; and to their in- 
fluence is owing everything good which has been 



412 BIBLE PICTURES. 

done iu the world. Christians not better than other 
men! Who have kept the' Truth and died for it, 
when all others disowned it? Christians. Who 
founded our political and religious institutions, our 
schools, and colleges, and churches, the safeguard 
and glory of the land? Christians. Who, by their 
teachings and example, purify public sentiment, and 
create a moral tone in society, without which it 
would become a den of thieves? Christians. Who 
visit hospitals and prisons, and go down into the 
dark, filthy homes of Vice and Want, seeking out 
the wretched, succoring the helpless, saving the 
lost? Christians. AVho uphold the Sabbath and 
the Sanctuary, and keep the light of the Gospel 
burning on the watch-towers of Zion, to guide the 
benighted to safety and peace? Christians. Who 
are carrying that light to pagan shores, and kindling 
up its lires under the sky of the Equator, and amid 
the snows of the Pole? Christians. Who are the 
world's foremost leaders in its great exodus from 
barbarism, bondage, and woe, to civilization, free- 
dom, and happiness? Again I say, Christians. 
Look at any work that honors God and blesses 
man, and you will find that Christians devise it, 
Christians superintend it, Christians do it. Chris- 
tians not better than other men ! And dare you 
say this — you who have never felt the power of 
one Christian principle? Christians not better than 



VAIN QUESTIONS. 413 

you ! The Christian fears God. You live as if 
there were no God. The Christian mourns over 
his sins. You glory in yours. The Christian prays. 
You swear. The Christian loves the assemblies of 
the saints. You love the theatre, the dram-shop, 
and the brothel. The Christian labors for the sal- 
vation of his fellow-men. You labor to prevent it. 
Oh ! you do not, you cannot believe that the Chris- 
tian is not better than you. You only wish it, and 
the wish is father to the thought. But whether you 
now believe it or not, be assured, that in the great 
day of decision, when all characters shall be re- 
vealed, you will discover that the moral distance 
between you and the most imperfect follower of the 
meek and lowly Jesus, is as wide as from hell to 
heaven. "Then shall ye return, and discern be- 
tween the righteous and the wicked, between him 
that serveth God, and him that serveth Him not." 

Granting, however, for the moment, that your 
allegation were just ; that the great majority of 
religious professors in our day were false to their 
calling, and false to their God ; and that our 
churches of every name had degenerated into syna- 
gogues of mere hypocrisy and formalism — " What 
is that to thee ? " This fact could furnish no apol- 
ogy for your own unbelief and impenitence. It 
could not take one iota from your individual ac- 
countability, nor lessen in the slightest degree your 
35* 



414 BIBLE PICTURES. 

obligation to follow the Saviour. The command 
would still rest upon 3^011 in all its force. The 
Gospel itself, and not the conduct of its professors, 
would still be the law by which you are to act, and 
the standard by which you are to be judged. It 
would still remain an unchangeable truth, that "he 
that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth 
not shall be damned." Oh ! if you die without 
conversion, will it lighten cither }'Our guilt or your 
doom, to know that others pretended to be con- 
verted, and were not? Nay, rather will it not 
aggravate both? Will not the Judge say to you, 
"Out of thine own mouth do I condemn thee. If 
thou knewest so well what my disciples should be, 
why didst thou not thyself become my disciple?" 
And when the sentence shall be pronounced, and 
you lie down in sorrow, will it mitigate your anguish 
to know that the hypocrites whom you so hated on 
earth, arc your companions for eternity? No, no — 
your sin is your own, your punishment will be }-our 
own, and you alone must bear it. 

Dear reader ! how long shall thy vain thoughts 
lodge within thee ? How long wilt thou cleave to 
thy refuges of lies? How long wilt thou bolster 
thyself up with objections that have no existence 
but in thine own depraved heart? Cast them all 
away. They arc empty, false, and will vanish 
before the light of eternity, as the mist is swept 



VAIN QUESTIONS '. 415 

from the mountain's top by the morning beam. 
Go to Christ in humility and faith, and surrender 
thyself to the leading of His Grace. Listen to no 
voice but His —that voice which now sounds to 
thee out of heaven, as once it sounded by the blue 
waters of Gennesareth — "Follow Me!" And then, 
when the last decisive day is past, and the Saviour, 
having received "His own" to Himself, shall ascend 
from the throne of judgment to the throne of His 
everlasting glory, thou shalt hear that same Voice 
calling to thee, amid the harpings of angels, "Fol- 
low Me." 



CHAPTER XX. 
HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 

Thbbjb shall be >o night there."— Rev. xxi. 25. 

WIE grand excellence of the Gospel is its rev- 
{*) elation of Immortality. Nor is that revela- 
^ tion obscure, indefinite, or doubtful. It 
deals ^svith the question of a future life, not 
as a vague guess, an unsolved problem, but 
as a certain and absolute fact, and sets it forth with 
a clearness of outline, and a fulness of description, 
eminently fitted to impress the mind. And not 
content with merely affirming its existence, nor 
with any literal statement of its nature, it calls in 
numerous terrestrial analogies to illustrate it, and 
bring its attributes and circumstances within the 
grasp of our comprehension. 

In the chapter before us, the celestial world is 
portrayed under a variety of figurative aspects, and 
by a series of sublime representations. It is de- 
scribe d as a place of perfect order and transcendent 
beauty, tilled with holy and happy inhabitants; as 
the city of the Living God — the peculiar abode 
and palace of Jehovah, radiant with the splendors 

41G 



HEAVEN WITHOUT X1GHT. ill 

of His glory, and replete with all that can render it 
the scene of consummate purity and bliss. But 
among these striking views, perhaps the most sig- 
nificant and forcible is that which pictures heaven as 
crowned with changeless and refulgent light. In 
the visions of the rapt Seer of Patmos,' we are told 
that "its light was like unto a stone most precious, 
even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal:"' that, 
self-illuminated, it "had no need of the sun or of 
the moon to shine in it ; " that n the nations of the 
saved shall walk in the light of it : " and that fr there 
shall be no night there." 

Heaven, then, is without night. This is my 
theme. Let us study its meaning, and ponder the 
thoughts which it suggests. 

The language of the text is doubtless true even 
in its literal sense ; and is to be understood as 
teaching that in the material economy of heaven 
there is nothing which corresponds to the inter- 
change of light and darkness existing on earth. In 
that supernal clime reigns one eternal day. Its 
skies are never shadowed ; its sun never goes down. 
By what law of celestial physics, by what constitu- 
tion and action of the elements, a condition of being 
so unlike our own is created and maintained, Inspi- 
ration has not informed us ; nor would our present 
faculties be equal to the knowledge. Dismissing 
all such unfruitful speculations, we rest in the 



413 



BIBLE PICTURES. 



Divine announcement, that the gloom of night never 
visits the realms above. 



The absence of night from heaven is, however, 
to be regarded chiefly in its moral significations. 
Though a real fact, it has the intent and import of a 
symbol, adumbrating the spiritual features of the 
city of God, and embracing the whole range of its 
blessedness. In this bearing I shall now consider it, 
We are wont to associate with night the idea of 
weariness. The physical nature of man cannot sus- 
tain an activity that knows no pause. Labor ex- 
hausts its strength ; and without frequent rest and 
renovation, it sinks into the grave. The intel- 
lectual nature also, though of ethereal birth, and 
endowed with far more elastic energies, is yet 
liable, from its union with the body, to be weak- 
ened by the strain of protracted thought, or broken 
down by the weight of incessant care. How benefi- 
cent, therefore, is that ordinance of the Creator, 
which brings periodic darkness over the earth, and 
calls its busy multitudes to repose! Sweet to the 
myriad toilers in the world's vast workshop is the 
coming of the still evening J 10 „ r) wucn t j )(l (( . lsks ()f 
day arc laid aside, and tired limbs and overwrought 
brains draw refreshment from slumber. So benign 
ifl this provision, that Scripture has included it 
among the special acts of Divine Goodness, in the 
beautiful saying, "He giveth His beloved sleep." 



HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 419 

Now, as this arrangement is not found in heaven, 
the inference is obvious, that the denizens of that 
bright realm do not require its operation ; and are 
so constituted as to be inaccessible to fatigue from 
any intensity or duration of employment. A con- 
dition so opposite to that in which we are now 
placed must involve amazing changes — changes 
which no earthly words can paint, or earthly mind 
conceive. The imperfections of our being, the ma- 
terialism that clogs it, the weaknesses that impair 
it, the defilement that dishonors it, must be utterly 
eliminated ftnd cast off. This corruptible body 
must become incorruptible ; this natural body be 
made a spiritual body ; this feeble body be imbued 
with power ; this mortal body put on immortality ; 
and this sinful body shine forth in the glory of holi- 
ness. The mental faculties, there is reason to 
believe, will experience a similar transformation, 
passing from their present infancy to angelic devel- 
opment ; from the errors and delusions of this 
murky sphere to the perfect knowledge of fhe upper 
world. Thus our entire nature will be so recast, 
etherealized, exalted, as to render it superior to las- 
situde, and suffering, and decay ; instinct with per- 
petual vigor and indestructible vitality. Hence 
there will be no need that the shadows of night 
should gather over the sky of eternity ; no need 
that repose should follow exertion ; no need that 



420 BIBLE PICTURES. 

thought and feeling should ever be locked in forget- 
fulness. To the blessed dwellers there capacities 
will be imparted, which will fit them to pursue, 
without languor or stay, the noble engagements of 
that higher life. And while each glorified mind 
and each glorified body will find full scope for all 
its endowments in the service of its God and 
Saviour, the everlasting years as they roll away will 
witness no intermission of that service, and no 
waste of the powers which supply it. In what de- 
lightful contrast is all this to our present circum- 
stances ! When we consider how feeble and languid 
our best duties now are ; how soon we grow weary 
in them ; and how often exhaustion compels us to 
withdraw from them : and then look forward to that 
coming state, in which we shall be girded with 
strength proportioned to the grandeur of our occu- 
pations — strength enabling us to worship and adore 
forever, and to fly, swift as sunbeams, from province 
to province of Jehovah's empire, in fulfilment of 
His behests — must we not anticipate, with the 
deepest longing of our souls, an abode in that world 
where darkness shall never shroud us, and where, 
from our constitution, we shall never feel fatigue? 

Night is the symbol of ignorance. How often 

do the Sacred Writer- represent the intellectual and 

moral blindness of men under the figure of dark- 

! Thus Job, describing the errors and follies 



HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 421 

of the devotees of human wisdom, says, "They 
meet with darkness in the day time, and grope at 
noonday as in the night." And the fearful ignorance 
of God and of truth, which overspread the world at 
the period of the Eedeemer's advent, is portrayed 
by the graphic declaration, " Darkness covered the 
earth, and gross darkness the people." 

In this emblematic sense, a deep and cloudy night 
stretches over the sphere which we now inhabit. 
How imperfect are our faculties ! How narrow the 
limits of our knowledge ! How obscure and uncer- 
tain our researches ! What barriers of gloom and 
mystery meet us on whatever side we attempt to 
push our investigations ! The torch of Revelation, 
which God has in mercy hung out from the skies, 
to direct the steps of benighted man on his path 
to eternity, sheds indeed a clear and steady light, 
sufficient for our guidance in all that is essential to 
salvation. But, like the moonbeams which cheer 
us in the absence of day, it gilds only the summits 
of Truth, and the high uplands of Faith and Prac- 
tice, along which we must pass to the Heavenly 
Zion ; while the deep valleys beneath lie in impen- 
etrable shadow. What gems of knowledge, what 
treasures of wisdom, what scenes of beauty and of 
grandeur, what exhibitions of Divine skill and be- 
neficence, are there hidden from mortal view, or 
revealed only in dim and misty outline ! How pro- 



422 BIBLE PICTURES. 

found is the obscurity which rests on many subjects 
of the highest interest and importance ! How little 
can we comprehend of the mystery of our own 
being ; of the constitution of the world in which we 
arc placed ; of the nature and designs of that Prov- 
idence by which it is upheld ; of the attributes, pur- 
poses and glory of that Almighty One, under whose 
government we live, and to whose tribunal we are 
accountable ! We here know but in part ; we see 
through a glass darkly ; and although the illumina- 
tion vouchsafed is enough, if faithfully followed, to 
point out our way and to lead us in safety, yet there 
is much of a character vast, noble, sublime, which 
Inspiration does not disclose, or our powers are too 
weak to grasp. 

But in heaven there will be no intellectual night. 
All the errors that now shade and darken our minds 
— all the obstacles which here impede and limit our 
acquisitions — shall there be forever removed. The 
faculties of the soul which, amid the fogs and illu- 
sions of sense, are so restricted in their range, and 
so distorted in their vision, will, in that radiant 
world, expand into seraphic strength, and under the 
beams of eternal day receive a new impulse, and a 
right direction. The veil also, which now hangs 
over so many departments of Truth, will then be 
lifted, and Ave shall enter her inmost temple, and 
worship at her most secret shrine. The full, unsul- 



HEAVE X WITH 01' T NIGHT. 423 

lied light of eternity will pour its aH-revealifig 

brightness upon the whole field of moral and relig- 
ious inquiry, dispersing every cloud, illumining 
every depth, and bringing out each object into bold 
and distinct view. And. oh ! what attainments in 
divine knowledge must the redeemed make, when, 
with powers rectified and enlarged, with a spiritual 
vision purged from all the weakness and obliquity 
of earth, they range over the boundless extent of 
Jehovah's works and ways, piercing to the pro- 
foundest abysses, soaring to the loftiest heights, 
pursuing their researches amid the blaze of his very 
throne ; while all along their everlasting course. 
Heaven's unsetting sun sheds upon them its clear 
and serene effulgence ! Of the world in which such 
a career awaits us, well may it be said, " There 
shall be no night there." 

Night is the symbol of sin. The time which God 
has ordained for rest, man has appropriated to 
crime. All classes of the depraved and lawless 
look upon night as their chosen patron and protec- 
tor. fr The eye of the adulterer waiteth for the twi- 
light, and he saith, no eye shall see me. He goeth 
forth to her house, which is the way to hell, going 
down to the chambers of death, in the twilight, in 
the evening, in the black and dark night."' And it 
is under the same sheltering screen, that the thief, 
the burglar, and the assassin carry on their warfare 



421: BIBLE PICTURES. 

against society. Hence darkness is often employed 
in Scripture as the emblem of sin. " The way of 
the wicked is as darkness." " Men love darkness 
rather than light, because their deeds are evil." 

When, therefore, we read of heaven as being with- 
out night, the expression evidently implies that into 
those holy realms no impurity can ever be admitted. 
Take the glass of the inspired Word, and study the 
nature and design of the City of God ; and you will 
at once see how impossible it is that evil should find 
entrance there. It is the immediate residence of 
Jehovah, the all-perfect, the all-righteous, whose 
eyes cannot look on iniquity. It is the abode of 
Christ, to whom sin is so offensive that he stooped 
to the cross to put it away. It is the home of 
celestial Intelligences who have kept their gar- 
ments undefiled. It is the dwelling-place of justi- 
fied spirits, who have been cleansed by the blood 
of atonement, and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. 
In a word, everything that we know of heaven, of 
its inhabitants, of its occupations, of its enjoyments, 
proves, beyond the possibility of doubt, that it is the 
scene of perfect holiness — a holy world, tenanted 
only by the holy. Heaven would cease to be heaven, 
if one unsanctified soul were to gain admission 
there. As soon might the pillars of eternal Recti- 
tude give way, and rebellion usurp the throne of 
Infinite Majesty and Power, as a single unrenewed 



HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 425 

spirit inherit the land of the saved, and share in its 
blessedness. Let those who presumptuously dream 
that they are going to heaven while destitute of all 
that can fit them for heaven, ponder the words 
spoken by Him who is the Lord of Heaven, and 
who cannot be mistaken in the qualifications which 
it demands. " There shall in no case enter into it 
anything that clefileth, neither whatsoever worketh 
abomination, or maketh a lie, but they that are 
written in the Lamb's book of life." "Except a 
man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of 
God." And because there is no sin and no sinner 
in heaven, therefore it is said, " There shall be no 
night there." 

Night is the symbol of danger. The hours in 
which darkness broods over the earth are peculiar 
for their insecurity. It is then that the robber, the 
housebreaker, the incendiary, and the whole tribe 
of depredators on property and life, steal from their 
lurking places j and roam abroad on their work of 
mischief. And then it is that perils easily avoided 
by day deepen and multiply their terrors. How a 
black, starless night intensifies the dread of the 
mariner, on a lee shore, with the tempest howling 
around him, and breakers roaring for his destruc- 
tion. How it increases the jeopardy of the trav- 
eller in a lonely mountain gorge, where at any 
moment he may plunge over some precipice, which 

36* 



426 BIBLE PICTURES. 

the darkness conceals from his view. And with 
what undefinable, startling fear it thrills the man 
who is compelled, during its continuance, to trav- 
erse the streets of a city reeking with pestilence, or 
ravaged by insurrection. The very precautions we 
adopt evince our sense of special exposure, while 
the eye of the all-beholding sun is closed. 

The exclusion of night from heaven mny, there- 
fore, be interpreted as a pledge that, in that secure 
asylum, no adversary shall assail us, and no possi- 
bility of evil ever menace our peace. The moral 
perils which environ us in this probational stage of 
our being, arise from the unholy tendencies of our 
nature ; from the dominant wickedness of the world 
in which we live ; and from the sleepless hostility 
of the great Enemy of all good. Even after the 
work of God's Spirit has passed upon the soul, 
breathing into it a new principle of life from above, 
transforming its character, and reversing its destiny 
— there }et remain in it many unsanctified affec- 
tions, which are constantly struggling to regain their 
former ascendency, and subject the ransomed child 
of Grace to his old thraldom. The outward condi- 
tions of the believer's course are also full of hazard. 
He has to fight his way through a country alien 
from heaven, and at war with whatever comes 
from heaven, or is going to it; a country, whose 
customs, habits, pursuits, intercourse, are in direct 



HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 427 

antagonism to the temper and conduct which the 
Gospel demands. At every step, he is beset by in- 
fluences adverse to his religious progress ; by temp- 
tations to earthliness, to unbelief, to remissness 
in duty, to sinful indulgence. At every step, the 
Arch-Deceiver spreads snares for his feet, and plies 
him with enticements to apostasy and ruin. And 
so mighty are these opposing forces, so formidable 
their combined array, that no mortal strength and 
no mortal resolution, unaided by power from on 
high, could suffice for the encounter. Were it not 
for Omnipotent succor, every celestial traveller 
would be overcome by the way, and never reach 
the glory at its end. 

But once beyond the Eiver — once sheltered 
within the walls of the Heavenly City — we shall 
no longer be exposed to any hostile interference. 
The seductions of the world, and the treachery of 
our own hearts, will not follow us there ; nor can 
Satan cross the " great gulf fixed " between Hell 
and Heaven to vex us with his assaults. Xo foe 
can approach that Palace of the universal King — 
no danger lurk in its happy mansions. At the 
gates, and on every tower and battlement, angelic 
sentinels keep watch and ward ; while over all, 
Infinite Love and Infinite Puissance stretch their 
inviolable protection. The Covenant of the Ever- 
Faithful and the Ever-Living infolds the blessed 



428 BIBLE PICTURES. 

ones who have been rescued from the pollutions of 
earth, and brought to immortality. Are they not, 
then, safe fore vermore ? And is it not fitting that 
a state, on which rests no shadow of fear for the 
present or for the future, should be described as 
having no night? 

Night is the symbol of want. Sleep is the sister 
of death. During its reign o.ver us, we retire 
within ourselves ; the senses close their portals ; 
and the soul is shut in from all its wonted delights. 
Communion with man and with nature has ceased. 
Perception is suspended. Reason is in abeyance. 
Gone are consciousness, memory, hope. The im- 
agination may, indeed, go forth in dreams, revelling 
in the wild phantasmagories which its own aberra- 
tions have called up ; but how vague and unsatisfy- 
ing are they all ! Incongruous, aimless, as little are 
they to be compared with waking realities, as the 
reflections of a broken mirror to the clear shining 
of noon. And even should slumber be interrupted, 
what a dreary blank does the eye behold ! Hidden 
is the rich landscape — stream, and forest, and 
mountain — all the grand things and the lovely on 
which the daylight looks. Above us may glimmer 
the watching stars and the silvery moon ; but they 
only awaken regret for the nobler luminary de- 
parted. Where is that wondrous orb at whose 
approach the stellar hosts veil their faces? Where 



HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 429 

is he, in whose absence creation languishes ; whose 
coming is hailed with joy ; whose rising scatters 
life and gladness over the world ; whose ray paints 
with gold every object on which it falls ; and who 
sits on his throne of fire, the visible Shekinah, 
" emblem of the Invisible, lit up in the temple of the 
universe." So is it that night typifies want ; and 
the fact that heaven knows no night is a most 
expressive sign that it also knows no privation. 

Want, in one or another of its forms, is insepa- 
rable from our earthly condition. Pilgrims in the 
desert, we must expect to sigh in vain for much 
that is essential to perfect felicity. But when we 
reach the land of Divine fulness above, every need 
will be supplied. Do you find here a want of 
friends ? Are there few whose hearts beat in sym- 
pathy with yours, and in whose lasting affection you 
can confide ? In heaven you will have innumerable 
friends — friends bound to you by the holiest ties 
— friends who will never change — friends for 
eternity. United to the glorious assembly of the 
first born, you will hold high converse with patri- 
archs, and prophets, and apostles and martyrs, with 
the redeemed of all the ages ; and each individual 
of that countless throng will be your brother by a 
bond sweeter and stronger than mortal kindred ever 
knew — the bond of love to the One Saviour, and 
of endless companionship in celebrating His praise. 



430 BIBLE PICTUBES. 

Is there here want of knowledge ? In heaven li^ht 
will be poured upon us in the fullest effulgenec 
which our capacities can bear. The clouds which 
now obscure the disjoints of Providence will be dis- 
persed. Eedemption w T ill stand revealed in all its 
wonders ; and we shall comprehend, with all saints, 
the matchless mystery of Incarnate Love. Is there 
here a want of happiness? Does the gloom of sor- 
row often settle down, like a funeral pall, upon the 
soul, filling all its chambers with woe, and shutting 
out every gleam of hope and joy ? We shall leave 
all sorrow in the grave. There arc no mourners in 
heaven ; for pain and grief can never invade its 
secure repose. Hearts will throb no more. Tears 
will be shed no more. A Father's hand has wiped 
them all away. Everything around us, every scene, 
every object, every employment, will be adapted to 
exclude disquietude, and to minister delight. Every 
faculty, every passion, will be absorbed in adora- 
tion, and overflowing with ecstasy. And He that 
sitteth on the throne will bring out His treasures 
to augment our bliss, showering down upon our 
spirits all the raptures which Almighty Goodness 
can bestow. 

Night is the symbol of death. There are few 
analogies in the whole range of sacred imagery, 
more suited to represent death than the season of 
night. And thus we find it very frequently em- 



HE AVE X WITHOUT NIGHT. 431 

ployed by the inspired writers. The Psalmist, in 
speaking of the removal of his friends by death, 
says, "Mine acquaintance hast thou put into dark- 
ness.*' Job calls death "the day of darkness." and 
the grave " the bed of darkness " — "a land of dark- 
ness, as darkness itself: and of the shadow of death, 
without any order, and where the light is as dark- 
ness."' Our Divine Teacher has also given us a 
very striking description of death under the figure 
of night. "I must work the works of Him that 
sent Me while it is day : the night cometh in which 
no man can work.'' 

To beings situated as we are, it is hardly possible 
to form an idea of a state of existence in which 
death is unknown. In the whole compass of our 
observation, we can discover nothing in which his 
presence is not found. Every breath we draw, 
every bound of the heart, every beat of the pulse, 
tells of death. He is in all periods of life — in the 
snows of age, in the glory of manhood, in the flower 
of youth, in the bud of infancy. He is in all the 
seasons — in the showers of spring, in the beams of 
summer, in the ripeness of autumn, in the storms 
of winter. He is in the cloud and in the clear sky. 
on the mountain and in the valley, on the land and 
on the sea. There is not a condition, not a sphere, 
not an event, that gives no hint of death. He 
plants his foot on this fallen globe, and waving his 



432 BIBLE PICTURES. 

skeleton hand over its whole circumference, pro- 
claims, "All this is mine!" 

It is, therefore, difficult for us, having death thus 
always and everywhere before our eyes, to carry 
forward our thoughts to a state of being in which 
death and the grave can find no entrance. Yet this 
is true of heaven. Hear the decree uttered from 
that bright world, "There shall be no more death." 
No more death ! Oh, what a soul-ravishing an- 
nouncement is this ! No more death ! Then Hope 
has dawned on the midnight of the tomb ; the King 
of Terrors is despoiled of his power ; and the all- 
conqueror is himself conquered ! No more death to 
our persons — no more death to our attainments — 
no more death to our usefulness — no more death to 
our joys ! All arc changeless and perfect. God is 
our portion, holiness our vesture, happiness our 
allotment, eternity our home. Oh, what a boon is 
Immortality when it thus stamps its own endless 
duration on all that awaits us in "the Better 
Land ! " 

Permit me, in closing, to advert briefly to the 
practical influence which this representation should 
have upon us. Merely to describe heaven would 
be a vain labor, even though we could paint its 
splendors in the glowing numbers of Milton, or 
with the magic pencil of Claude. Such a picture 
might charm the imagination, but would leave the 



HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 433 

conscience and the heart unmoved. The moral 
bearings of Immortality, our personal interest in it, 
and the position in which we stand with respect to 
its awards, are the thoughts which every view of its 
happiness should suggest and impress. And most 
solemnly would I admonish all who have listened to 
the recital of the blessings that enrich the heavenly 
state, that unless they embrace its principles, and 
drink in its spirit, and put on its holiness through 
the power of its renovating grace, they can never 
inherit its beatitudes. The Lord of heaven has 
ordained a great and decisive preparation in the 
hearts and lives of men, as an indispensable pre- 
requisite to its enjoyment. What that, preparation 
is, you have been often and distinctly told. It con- 
sists in godly sorrow for sin ; in the cordial accept- 
ance of Christ's sacrifice for sin ; in the work of the; 
Holy Spirit, applying that sacrifice to the renewal 
and cleansing of the soul. Has this preparation 
been accomplished in you? Have you thus been 
made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light ? 
If you are living without repentance, without con- 
version, without a purifying faith in the Blood of 
Atonement, you are passing, indeed, to eternity, 
but to an eternity of woe, and are linking your 
future being with those, of whom God has said, 
"They shall not see my rest." The only path in 
which a sinner can reach Eternal Life, lies by the 

37 



434 BIBLE PICTURES. 

Cross of Calvary. Oh ! tread that path. Linger 
long aucl trustingly by that Mount of salvation. 
Bathe, and bathe again, in the healing waters which 
flow from its riven summit. So shall your journey 
end amid the rapture of the skies. 

If you are travelling to immortality by such a 
road, well may you look forward with exulting hope 
to the issue of your pilgrimage. That issue is nigh 
you even now, though the mists of earth shut it out 
from your view. When a few more steps are taken, 
a few more sufferings endured, a few more victories 
won, you will pass beyond the intercepting haze, 
and behold the City of God, the goal of your striv- 
ings, and your heritage forever. And then will the 
marvels of its beauty and its magnificence burst on 
your ravished sight. As you gaze round upon the 
wondrous vision, and your eye takes in at last the 
whole celestial panorama — the sapphire walls, the 
gates of pearl, the golden streets, the crystal pal- 
aces, the emerald fields spreading away on every 
side, the River of Life winding through them, and 
the Day that never ends pouring a flood of radiance 
over all — what a rushing tide of ecstasy will sweep 
upon your spirits, and what new conceptions of 
God's power and mercy engross every thought and 
faculty ! Nor will its material elements alone occupy 
your contemplations. Its moral characteristics, its 
order, its harmony, its purity, its love, will afford 



HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 435 

you still nobler themes of study, and sources of vet 
loftier pleasure. There you will see Divine Wis- 
dom, Omnipotence, Majesty, Goodness, in their 
sublimest manifestations. There you will commune 
with Archangels and Cherubim, the elder-born of 
Creation, and drink deep knowledge from lips that 
sung the morning hymn of Time, and greeted the 
new-made earth with rejoicing hosannas. There 
you will meet the justified from among men. There 
you will find the loved ones lost below, and never 
lose them more. There you will look on the face 
of Jesus, and bask in His unveiled perfections with 
ever-growing wonder and delight. And there, 
before the central Glory, the all-encircling Efful- 
gence that speaks the Presence of the Invisible 
Father, you will worship and adore through ever- 
lasting ages. 

Is this blissful scene real? Is our future partici- 
pation in it assured to us by the promise of the 
Saviour? Are we separated from it only by the 
narrow stream of death ? Then why is it so seldom 
in our thoughts ? Why are our aspirings towards 
it so infrequent and so feeble ? Why do we even 
shrink back from the hour that shall summon us to 
it? Why cling we so closely to the Wilderness, 
forgetful of the Canaan to which we are bound? 
Why are we so eager in temporal pursuits, so elated 



436 BIBLE PICTURES. 

by success, so cast down Ity failure ; while the great 
things of the Life to come have over us so little 
power ? Oh, let us awake to the grandeur of our 
Hope ! Onward, ever onward, the swift years are 
bearing us to heaven. Ought we not to advance as 
rapidly in fitness for it, and in desire for its fruition ? 
Amid the trials and infelicities of our earthly abode, 
let Faith fix her steadfast, longing gaze on that 
serene realm just beyond the boundary of the grave, 
where no weariness, no want, can ever be felt — no 
sin, no danger, no death, can ever come; where all 
evil is banished — all good possessed. 

AVould that I might here drop the curtain. But 
our picture will not be complete without its con- 
trast. The shadow must be put in as well as the 
light ; the gloom as well as the brightness. There 
is another world, the opposite of that which has 
been described — a world shrouded in unbroken 
darkness — a world in which there is nothing but 
Unrest, Guilt, Privation, Despair, and ever-living 
Death. Impenitent sinner ! that world is your ap- 
pointed dwelling-place. If you continue to reject 
the Saviour, and die unconverted and unforgiven, 
as sure as God's word is true, the never-ending 
misery of hell will be your portion. And as the 
ceaseless ages of doom drag on, your spirit, worn 
and crushed under its mighty torment, will utter, 



HEAVEN WITHOUT NIGHT. 437 

ever utter, the hopeless cry, " "Watchman, what of 
the night? "Watchman, what of the night?" And 
the watchman cannot answer, " The morning com- 
eth ; " but all along the slow-moving centuries will 
come back the response, "Xight — Night still 
— Eterxal Night." 



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conspicuous in the Struggles for Religious Liberty. By James G. Miall. Con- 
taining thirty-six Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, 1.50. 

MODERN ATHEISM ; Under its forms of Pantheism, Materialism, Secular- 
ism, Development, and Natural Laws. By James Buchanan, D. D., LL. D. 
12mo, cloth, 1.75. 
" The work is one of the most readable and solid which we have ever perused." — Hugh Miller. 

MORNING HOURS IN FATMOS. The Opening Vision of the Apoca- 
lypse, and Christ's Epistle to the Seven Churches of Asia. By Rev. A. C. 
Thompson, D. D., author of "The Better Land," "Gathered Lilies," etc. 
With beautiful Frontispiece. 12mo, cloth, 1.50. 

FIRST THINGS; or, the Development of Church Life. By Baron Stow, 
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THE GREAT CONCERN,- or, Man's Relation to God and a Future State. 
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" Pungent and affectionate, reaching the intellect, conscience, and feelings ; admirably fitted to 
awaken, guide , and instruct. Just the thing for distribution in our congregations." —X. Y. Observer. 

EVENINGS WITH THE DOCTRINES. By Rev. Nehemiah Adams, 
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TRUTHS FOR THE TIMES. By Nehemiah Adams, D. D., Pastor of 
Essex-street Church, Boston. 12mo, paper covers, 15 and 30 cts. 

15 



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LIFE, TIMES, AND CORRESPONDENCE OF JAMES MAN* 
KING, and the Early History of Brown University. By ReubeH 
Aldridge Guild. With Likenesses of President Manning and Nicholas 
Brown, Views of Brown University, The First Baptist Church, Providence, ete» 
Royal 12mo, cloth, 3.00. 
A most important and interesting historical work. 

MEMOIR OF GEORGE N. RRIGGS, EL. D., late Governor of Massa- 
chusetts. By W. C. Richards. "With Illustrations. Royal 12mo. 2.50 

TUE EIFE OF JOHN MTLTON, narrated in connection with the Polit- 
ical, Ecclesiastical, and Literary History of his Time. By David 
Masson, M. A., Professor of English Literature, University College, London. 
Vol. L, embracing the period from 100S to 1639. With Portraits and specimens 
of his handwriting at different periods. Royal octavo, cloth, 3.50, 

LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF REV. DANIEL WILSON, 
D. I)., late Bishop of Calcutta. By Rev, JOSIAH BATEMAN, M. A., Rector 
of North Cray, Kent. With Portraits, Map, and numerous Illustrations. One 
volume royal octavo, cloth, 3.50. 
OS^" An interesting life of a great and good man. 

THE LIFE AND TIMES OF JOHN HTTSS; or, The Bohemian Refor- 
mation of the Fifteenth Century. By Rev. E. H. Gillett. Two vols, royal 
octavo, 7.00. 

"The author." pays the New York Observer, "has achieved a great work, performed a valuable 
service for Protestantism and the world, made a name for himself among religious historians, and 
produced a book that will hold a prominent place in the esteem of every religious scholar." 

The Bew York Evangelist speaks of it as "one of the most valuable contributions to ecclesiasti- 
cal history yet made in this country." 

MEMOIR OF THE CHRISTIAN LABORS, Pastoral and Philan- 
thropic, of THOMAS CHALMERS, D. D. L.L. D. By FRANCIS Way 
land. 16mo, cloth, 1.00. 
The moral and intellectual greatness of Chalmers is, we might say, overwhelming to the mind ol 

the ordinary reader. Dr. Wayland draws the portraiture with a master hand. — Method. Quart. Rev. 

EIFE OF JAMES MONTGOMERY. By Mrs. H. C. Knight, author of 
"Lady Huntington and her Friends," etc. Likeness, and elegant Illustrated 
Title-Page on steel. 12mo, cloth, 1.50. 

DIARY AND CORRESPONDENCE OF AMOS LAWRENCE. With 
a brief account of some Incidents in his Life. Edited by his son, Wm. R. *AW- 
BKNCB, M. D. With elegant Portraits of Amos and Abbott Lawrence, an En- 
graving of their Birthplace, an Autograph page of Handwriting, and a copious 
Index. < ne large octavo volume, cloth, 2.50. 

The Same Wouk. Royal 12ino, cloth, 1.75. 

DR. GRA ST A.\J> THE MOUNTAIN NESTORIANS. By Rev. THOW- 
as Laurie, his surviving associate in that Mission. With a Likeness, Map <>/ 
the Country, and numerous Illustrations. Third edition Revised and improved. 
12mo, cloth, 1.70. o°" A mosl valuable memoir oi a > i hob • man. 

8 



60ultr antr ^mtahxn ^nblu&tians* 



CRUDEN' S CONDENSED CONCORDANCE. A Complete Concordance 
to the Holy Scriptures. By Alexander Cruden. Revised and re-edited by 
the Rev. David King, LL. D. Octavo, cloth arabesque, 1.75 ; sheep, 2.00. 
The condensation of the quotations of Scripture, arranged under the most obvious heads, while 
it diminishes the bulk of the work, greatly facilitates the finding of any required passage. • 
'• We have in this edition of Cruden the best made better." — Puritan Recorder. 

EADIE'S ANALYTICAL CONCORDANCE OP TME HOLY 
SCRIPTURES ; or, the Bible presented under Distinct and Classified 
Heads or Topics. By John Eadie, D. D., LL. D., Author of " Biblical Cyclo- 
paedia," " Ecclesiastical Cyclopaedia," " Dictionary of the Bible," etc. One vol- 
ume, octavo, 840 pp., cloth, 4.00 ; sheep, 5.00 ; cloth, gilt, 5.50 ; half calf, 6.50. 

The object of this Concordance is to present the Scriptures entire, under certain classified 
and exhaustive heads. It differs from an ordinary Concordance, in that its arrangement depends 
not on words, but on subjects, and the verses are printed in full. 

KITTO' S POPULAR CYCLOPAEDIA OF BIBLICAL LITERA- 
TURE. Condensed from the larger work. By the Author, John Kitto, 
D. D. Assisted by James Taylor, D. D., of Glasgow. With over five hun- 
dred Illustrations. One volume, octavo, 812 pp., cloth, 4.00 ; sheep, 5.00 ; half 
calf, 7.00. 

A Diction-art of the Bible. Serving also as a Commentary, embodying the products of 
the best and most recent researches in biblical literature in which the scholars of Europe and 
America have been engaged. 

KITTO'S HISTORY OF PALESTINE, from the Patriarchal Age to the 
Present Time ; with Chapters on the Geography and Natural History of the 
Country, the Customs and Institutions of the Hebrews. By John Kitto, 
D. D. With upwards of two hundred Illustrations. 12mo, cloth, 1.75. 
«&• A work admirably adapted to the Family, the Sabbath School, and the week-day School Li- 
brary 

WESTCOTT'S INTRODUCTION TO TILE STUDY OF TME GOS- 
PELS. With Historical and Explanatory Notes. By Brooke Foss 
Westcott, 31. A., late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge. With an Intro- 
duction by Prof. H. B. Hackett, D. D. Royal 12mo, cloth, 2.00. 
E©"~ A masterly work by a master mind. 

ELLICOTT'S LIFE OF CHRIST HISTORICALLY CONSID- 
ERED. The Hulsean Lectures for 1859, with Notes Critical, Historical, and 
Explanatory. By C J. Ellicott, B. D. Royal 12mo, cloth, 1.75. 
03- Admirable in spirit, and profound in argument. 

RAWLINSON' S HISTORICAL EVIDENCES OF THE TRUTH 
OF THE SCRIPTURE RECORDS, STATED ANEW, with Specif., 
reference to the Doubts and Discoveries of 3Iodern Times. In Eight Lectures, 
delivered in the Oxford University pulpit, at the Bampton Lecture for 1859. By 
Geo. Rawlinson, 31. A., Editor of the Histories of Herodotus. With the Co- 
pious Notes translated for the American edition by an accomplished scholar. 
12mo, cloth, 1.75. 

" The consummate learning, judgment, and general ability, displayed by Mr. Rawlinson in Wi> 
«*Iition of Herodotus, are exhibited in this work also." — North-American. 

IS 



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fWILLER'S CRTTTSE OF THE BETSEY; or, a Summer Ramble among 
the Eossiliferous Deposits of the Hebrides. With Rambles of a Geologist; 
or, Ten Thousand Miles over the Fossiliferous Deposits of Scotland. 12mo, 
pp. 524, cloth, 1.75. 

MILLER'S ESSAYS, Historical and Biographical, Political and Social, Lit- 
erary and Scientific. By Hugh Millar. With Preface by Peter Bayne. 
12mo, cloth, 1.75. 

MILLER'S FOOT-FRIXTS OF THE CUE A TOR ; or, the Asterolepis 
of Stromness, with numerous Illustrations. With a Memoir of the Author, by 
Louis Agassiz. 12mo t cloth, 1.75. 

MILLER'S first IMPRESSIONS OF EXGLAXTt and its 

PEOPLE. With a line Engraving of the Author. 12mo, cloth, 1.50. 

MILLER'S HEADSHIP OF CHRIST, and the Rights of the Christian 
People, a Collection of Personal Portraitures, Historical and Descriptive 
Sketches and Essays, with the Author's celebrated Letter to Lord Brougham. 
By HUGH MILLER. Edited, with a Preface, by PETER BAYNE, A. M. 12mo, 
cloth, 1.76. 

MILLER'S OLD RFI> SANDSTONE ; or, New Walks in an Old Field. 
Illustrated with Plates and Geological Sections. NEW Edition, REVISES 
and MUCH ENLARGED, bj the addition of new matter and new Illustrations, 
&c. 12mo, cloth, 1.75. 

MILLERS roi'tl. AR GEOLOGY} With Descriptive Sketches from a 
Geologist's Portfolio. By Hi on Mn.LKit. With a Resume of the Progress 
of Geological Science during the last two years. By MR8. MILLER. 12mo, 
cloth, 1.75. 

MILLER'S SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS ; or, the Story of my 
Education. Ax AUTOBIOGRAPHY* With a full-length Portrait of the Author. 
12ino, 1.75. 

MILIEU'S TALES AXD SKETCHES. Edited, with a Preface, &c, by 
HR8. Miller. 12mo, 1.50. 

Among the subjects are: Recollections of Ferguson — Burns — The SalmoD 
Fisher of Udoll— The Widow of Dunskaith— The Lykewake— Bill Whyte— 
The Toung Surgeon— George Ross, the Scotch Agent — M'Culloch, the Mech- 
anician — A True Story of the Life of a Scotch Merchant of the Eighteenth 
Century. 

MILLER'S TESTIMONY OF THE ROCKS; or, Geology in its Boar- 
Lags nn the two Theologies, Natural and Revealed. " Thou shall be in league 
with the stones of the field."— Job. With numerous elegant Illustrations. 
One volume, royal 12mo, cloth, 1.75, 

HUGH. MILLER'S works. Ten volumes, uniform stylo, in an elegant 
box, embossed cloth, 17 ; library sheep, 20 ; half calf, :tl; antique, M. 

MACAULAY ON SCOTLAND. A Critique from HUGH Milleu's u Wit- 
ness." lOmo, flexible cloth. 37 cts. 



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